All About Bucks

Money Never Sleeps

2007-05-12T18:03:00.000+01:00

As New York and London battle it out to claim the title of financial capital of the world, the themes of the iconic 1980s film Wall Street are more relevant than ever.

It'll be difficult for the sequel to live up to Wall Street.

How will it follow up the definitive "Greed is good" speech that embodied the relationship between Darwinism and capitalism?

Or the references that foretold the rise of technology and the internet age?

And the speech that defined the free market's dominance over democracy?

Trader Monthly and more...

2006-11-15T19:55:00.000Z

Trader Monthly magazine gives me a glimpse into the trading world.

Accompanying a news item on The Pursuit of Happyness, they recently had a poll on the best trading film ever, and Wall Street came top.

Meanwhile, I'm dividing my time between the 4Basra project, freelancing and other work. My last article was in Village magazine.

Wallpaper* founder Tyler Brulé's new publishing project, Monocle magazine looks like a promising prospect to look into in the new year.

Diplo Magazine is slowly coming along. Publisher Charles Baker recently spoke to troubled journalism weekly The Press Gazette.

Interesting times...

Allsorts

2006-10-12T19:58:00.000+01:00

Attending a creative writing workshop last weekend, I was struck by the variety of people there; and these were just the half a dozen or so that were sitting within earshot at lunchtime.

An airline pilot, a technical writer, a derivatives trader, a software designer and two people working for a national broadcaster were among the people I spoke to briefly.

Many people read out something they had written, and I was struck by the quality of the writing.

The saying: 'everbody has a book in them' never seemed so relevant

Published

2006-10-03T21:43:00.000+01:00

Guilty as charged: it has been over a month since my last post on here.

During that time, I've been published in The Spectator (requires a subscription...sorry!)

I thought I would have felt some pang of pride or excitement at seeing my name in one of the political weeklies, but to be honest I didn't really.

It was more a case of luck: the right interview at the right time. The process of thinking of ideas and pitching them is not unlike sales. Not quite what I imagined when enrolled on my Journalism degree course. Some lecturers in the cosy world of academia would do well to emphasise this fact to their students more clearly as well.

The Michael Foot interview should also be published in Diplo Magazine later this month. They are hopefully using photos from the photographer who accompanied me, so perhaps it will look better with those.

Next week I am making a flying visit to Vienna in connection with 4Basra, and the rejection emails have already begun coming in, as I pitched the interview to a number of publications.

More news soon.

Been busy...

2006-08-22T22:24:00.000+01:00

Apologies to readers for not having updated this blog recently.

I have recently begun blogging for a charity project on 4Basra.

Although the content there is different to what is on here at the moment, you might find it interesting...

Other writing work is also taking up my time: for Diplo Magazine and Voice (a small environmental NGO based in Dublin.

I will also be attending a writing workshop (see Inkwell Writers for more information) in October and then again in the new year.

As well as all this, I also try to pay for it all through other, more business-related work, which is a necessary evil at the moment.

If my blog design company ever get off their backside, I hope to have a new and improved blog, to which I hope to transfer some of the content that is currently on here.

In the meantime, thanks for looking and I will try to post here a bit more often.

Morning or Mourning?

2006-07-23T06:58:00.000+01:00

Two rabbits nibbled leisurely on the sweet stalks of grass on the lawn, as I peered out of the kitchen window.

Wagtails and chaffinches - at least I think that's what they were - dived, climbed and hovered a merry dance in the air. Swallows swooped and skimmed the algae-infested surface of the pond. Another brown bird flitted along the lawn to a soulful dawn chorus soundtrack provided by his flighty friends.

Somewhere overhead, a jet whirred, carrying passengers on their way to a slightly hotter - given that it has been unusually warm here in Ireland - holiday destination. Cotton-wool clouds dappled a blue sky as shafts of sunlight pierced the green trees all around.

In our consumer age, it is not fashionable - indeed, it might be harmful to the economy - to admit to biophilia. That a sense of place and sense of belonging might be an innate human trait is increasingly ignored. If we care about our surroundings, then we might question the 'development' of them. We might have more concern for their ecosystems in which we live.

Increasingly urban populations live increasingly transnational lives, moving anonymously through the stale corporate uniformity of airports, stations, business parks and hotels. Mass development and standardised design leads to urban planners' wet dreams of soulless town and city centres, many with the same chain shops and supermarkets, hollowing out the life from former market towns. Mile-long straight high streets in some areas resemble the worst American mid-sized towns. Thoughtless design and planning leads to alienation and detachment.

Morning in suburbia or the heart of a city is a desensitised experience. It is an ordered, man-made environment of steel, wood, concrete, glass, bricks, plastic and tarmac. We look out the window and see another window, or another house, or many other houses. It is functional and utilitarian, and therefore there is little to inspire or engage with.

The traffic is heavier. There is competition for space to live and for space on the road. Across continents, countries, cities and towns, rush-hour consists of a simultaneous light orchestra of comings and goings. People, goods and metal flow from place to place along ordered channels of movement. It is planned spontaneity across an ordered landscape, in contrast to the anarchy of nature.

Carnage

2006-07-15T02:55:00.000+01:00

It is not just the exhaust fumes that linger in the air. Particularly at rush hour, but increasingly at other times across the world, you can sense the collective desire to move, to get there, to go home, as fast as possible.

Stress levels rise. The feeling flows through whole towns and cities, transmitted through the tarmac and the tyres of cars, vans and trucks. Each nagging, unfulfilled desire at home and work, each frustration as we navigate a path through the metal masses is translated into a nudge of the horn or a press on the accelerator.

Bad day at work? Take it out on your car. Keep the revs up. Thrust into the next gear, punch the accelerator and get there faster. A hit of speed will feed the addiction and make everything pass by more quickly. Petrol mixed with added anger is a potent fuel.

If you happen to drive in Ireland, the roads are at best perilous and at worst an anarchic and relentless racetrack, where you risk death frequently and without mercy. Earlier this week, eleven people died in the space of 48 hours. The carnage and devastation was shocking.

Living beside a rural road that is busier than ever before, and just below a sharp corner, my family and I live in constant fear of the day when someone will be killed here.

We have had head-on collisions, skidding cars, cars on their side in the ditch, one car crashing into the back of another, an articulated truck toppling over - all on the same accident blackspot.

On one occasion, I was reading in bed at about 3 o'clock one morning, when a loud crash reverberated outside. Out I went in my dressing gown, only to come running back in to call an ambulance. On another occasion, I had to run down the road to a neighbour's house to use their telephone to call one. A car had crashed into a telegraph pole, knocking out our phone line. Several times, a fire crew have had to come out to cut people free from their crumpled cars.

Yet today, it seems drivers couldn't care less about the danger here, as they speed by faster than ever. It is not pleasant to live in constant fear of someone being killed practically on your doorstep through their own recklessness.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Hell is 56k dialup

2006-06-25T09:33:00.000+01:00

Left out of the broadband revolution, inevitably I feel I am missing out on something here in rural Ireland.

Youtube movies, repeats of Newsnight, The Apprentice, or other online televisual gems are a non-broadband-enabled pipe dream at the moment.

The odd use of a high-speed wi-fi connection whets my appetite for broadband, so now I am hoping that between them Vodafone and O2 might provide HSDPA (High Speed Digital Packet Access) coverage where I live, which could in theory provide download speeds of up to 8MB per second.

Living three miles from a broadband-enabled exchange, it is frustrating to know that the possibility to surf at broadband speeds is minutes away.

With the cheapest satellite service priced at about 60 euros a month - once you factor in the dialup connection that you have to retain - and landline providers charging a minimum of about 35 euros, including the necessary line rental, 40 euros or so for HSDPA starts to look like an attractive proposition.

But is it commercially viable for the mobile operators?

At a vague estimate, I would guess there might be a few hundred people like myself where I live, that would use HSDPA covered by my nearest mobile phone mast.

I have some vague advice that it costs €80,000 to set up one of these. Let's say each subscriber pays an average of 400 euros a year, then it only takes 200 subscribers in a given mast coverage area signed up for a year for the networks to break even.

They have an opportunity to develop a new data revenue stream and acquire new customers, and at the same time render the landline operators such as Eircom redundant.

Given that they are unwilling and legally bound not to unbundle the local loop / last-mile copper-wiring or to improve line quality in rural areas that would allow their competitors to access new broadband customers, telecoms regulator Comreg should provide all the assistance it can to O2 and Vodafone in bringing HSDPA to market as soon as possible.

Instead of providing subsidies to community broadband schemes, O2 and Vodafone should be granted subsidies to provide HSDPA coverage in rural areas.

Then, instead of having to read Sir Anthony O' Reilly's smug newspaper announcements to Eircom's shareholders while I wait for another webpage to load, I might be allowed the small pleasure of having denied his shareholders some money.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

New Old New Labour

2006-06-08T05:57:00.000+01:00

Cameron is the next big thing as far as the press are concerned. The smart money and the smart press barons are behind him as well.

Cameron is Blair Mark 2

Brown is Blair Mark 1.5

Labour as a party sold out to Blair and Blair sold out the party.

The Tories must sell out temporarily to Cameron to become electable.

When Cameron goes back to True Blue, he will betray not only the left of the Tories, but also the disillusioned Labour and Liberals, just as Blair did, to a large extent.

They shouldn't bother with the names any more, they should just call each of them "The Party," because it seems to be a one-party state in all but name.

The most recent best illustration I saw of the state of things was a programme on BBC called Tax the Fat.

And what picture was presented to me when I switched on the programme, but the presenter talking to John Prescott - who was sat there in all his glory stuffing himself with crisps, while Caroline Flint avoided the questions and the presenter tried in vain to make his televisual efforts look vaguely interesting.

Vote Labour. We will tax you/tell you what to do/take away your rights (delete as applicable) but you can't tax us, criticise us, or tell us what to do.

Vote Tory. We are New Old New Labour (Can you remember which is/was which?)

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

From Catholicism to Consumerism

2006-05-25T03:45:00.000+01:00

It is well-known that laissez-faire policies and low tax rates are largely responsible for the phenomenon of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger, but the issue of why a nation changes rapidly from one renowned for Catholicism to one whose chief attribute is its people’s ability to consume is one that is not explored so often.

Could it be that people who so readily submitted themselves to Catholicism will embrace consumerism with an even greater readiness?

Supermarkets and shopping centres are our new churches. Queuing in shops and estate agents to be the first to get a new house is our new communion.

Advertising copy and slogans have become our sermons. Our selfish desires have replaced Christian values by which we should try to live.

Brands are our new Gods. Instead of examining our consciences to see if we are living good lives, we focus on ourselves so that brands are more open to hooking us with emotional fixes.

Where religion once gave meaning, now we have brands. Not to buy into them is a sin.

Fear is fundamental to the process. If you were God-fearing, you would supposedly do your best to live by Christian values, for fear of going to hell. Fearing a brand however, is counter-productive. Instead, we must fear the social and personal hell of not owning the same brand of shoes or clothes as our peers.

The fear doesn’t end there. Once you own something, you now have the new fear of losing it, particularly if it is a shiny new IPod or mobile phone, both of which turn young people into unfortunate prey for thieves.

Fear also works in another, more subtle way. There is the fear of losing one’s job in the increasingly outsourced, downsized and offshored corporate world. God forbid you might lose your job. If that happened, you wouldn’t be able to afford the shiny new things that you are afraid might be stolen.

Consume and we will become satisfied. Heaven is satisfaction and self-indulgence. Our status amongst our peers will rise if we buy a particular brand. Hell is not being able to afford to live the same lifestyles as the celebrities that preach to us daily in our Biblical media.

In rejecting one overarching ideology, Ireland has too readily embraced another one.

Google reports that Irish people are the loneliest in Europe, judging by the amount of people who type the word ‘lonely’ into the search engine. Dozens of new houses are poorly served by basic amenities that used to be found in every village. Everywhere you go, previously small, thriving communities are turning into anonymous, soulless suburbia.

The natural landscape gives way to concrete and tarmac. Land and property is still important in the Irish psyche, but instead of living off it, as many once did, we now hurtle through it, from the concrete shell of our mortgage-busting homes to the glass and metal corporate temples of our offices and workplaces.

Once the landscape was a source of inspiration, growth, the cycle of nature and a place of beauty and natural wonder. Now it has become a view to take in - adding to the value of your property - or a site on which to build.

The country has unprecedented rates of sucide – the fifth highest in the EU amongst young people. Stress and mental health problems are also at unprecedented levels, as they buckle under the pressure to fit in, get good grades and degrees, in the vague hope that might be able to afford a house, the average price of which is fast approaching € 500,000.

Behind the facade of Catholicism lurked a darker side: the scandals and abuses, of which we are all now aware.

Ireland is now discovering that behind its glossy image, consumerism also has a darker side.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

How Do Creationists Teach Geography?

2006-05-25T03:35:00.000+01:00

The Independent reported recently that Creationism is being taught in British schools. That in itself is not news, however.

Having attended C of E schools in England and a Catholic secondary school in Ireland, I would guess it has been taught for years. The only thing that may have changed is the extent to which it is rammed down the throat of impressionable youngsters.

But one thing that has always irked me is the question of geography.

How do Creationists explain the scientific proof that fossils, glacial valleys and the other numerous geological features of the landscape.

For example, in the Creationists’ mind, God – in whose image we are created – created the Earth and all living things.

Darwinists, on the other hand, take the view that we humans have evolved and descended from the apes over millions of years.

To take the Creationist argument to its logical conclusion, since a man created the Earth and all living things, then it is fine to exploit the Earth and its resources.

A Darwinist, however, might argue that since we are descended from nature, then we should respect the ecological limits of the Earth, and try to live within them.

When you closely analyse Creationism, to my mind it boils down to nothing but a cop-out, and one that is convenient for certain interests, at that.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

What is Blairism?

2006-05-10T17:40:00.000+01:00

This is posted in order to add to the debate on The Guardian Comment Is Free blog, following Jason Walsh’s article: Consumers led by Chameleons.

A lack of ideology is a criticism often targeted at Tony Blair, but on closer inspection the question may have more to do with whether he has a political vision that is different to the neoliberal status quo.

On 27 February 2002, backbench Labour MP Tony McWalter asked a question at Prime Minister’s Question Time on whose answer many had pondered since his election in 1997. He asked for: ‘a brief characterisation of the political philosophy which [the PM] espouses and which underlies his policies.’

Blair, after a few seconds contemplation came back with the answer that the NHS was an example of such a characterisation. On first thought, one might think this a fair and honest answer.

The more cynical among us might dismiss the answer as being the first thing that came to mind. Nye Bevan’s ‘from the cradle to the grave’ health service, the proudest creation of old Labour, supposedly envied by the rest of the world, gives free access to health care to all, regardless of means or background.

However, in light of the ongoing displeasure of trade unions such as the GMB at private sector involvement in public services, and of Blair’s proposal to eventually make every hospital a foundation hospital with decentralised power, there may be more truth to the Prime Minister’s answer than meets the eye.

New hospitals are being built by the likes of Carillion PLC, a company whose profits rose by 11 per cent in 2002, with £5 billion worth of orders on its books and £700 million of new orders already this year. Carillion’s PR firm, Weber Shandwick had its Managing Director Colin Byrne work for the Labour party business relations unit at the party’s Millbank HQ during the 2001 election campaign.

It is links like these that show how, contrary to being a party ‘for the many not the few’ and espousing social justice and equality, New Labour primarily serves and is manipulated by corporate lobbyists and PR firms who have an open door to Tony Blair’s government.

As a similar example, Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP signed a deal with a Russian oil company, TNK, in Downing Street in February 2003. Blair had earlier made a call to Vladimir Putin to oil the wheels of business on behalf of the company also known as ‘Blair Petroleum’.

This from a PM who leads supposedly ‘Britain’s first green government,’ who pledged in the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rather than to assist companies in deals to pump more oil and increase them.

Such evidence makes many think that a leader who promised so much has delivered so little. It is undoubtedly partly the reason that Labour Party membership has declined from 400,000 to less than 180,000.

The PM looks up to entrepreneurs because they ‘make things happen,’ as he is reported to have said. There is also the advantage of such people being able to line the party coffers as the likes of Lord Sainsbury, the supermarket mogul and GM food advocate have done. Unfortunately Blair seems to overlook the possibility that as well as bringing about changes for the better, the private sector may also cause deeper, more fundamental changes in society that aren’t.

Far from standing up to such interests in support of social justice and equality, challenging the ‘forces of conservatism’ and the Establishment, as he pledged to in his 1999 conference speech, Blair was already part of the elite and has served their interests ever since.

As an example, the PM’s thinking, and by implication that of New Labour seems to go something like this: In order to give the voters what they want, we’ll tell them that we’re treating them as ‘individuals’, rather than citizens.

By creating the controversial foundation hospitals, power is decentralised to individual hospitals from government. In doing so, private sector involvement in the form of companies building and maintaining schools and hospitals ensure that the promises to build them are met. All this leads to satisfied voters, profitable companies and efficient public services with happy staff, which should also please the trade unions.

At the same time, the method of accounting shows annual payments to companies of a fraction of the lump sum amount that would have come out of the public purse if the government was paying for the construction of buildings in one go. By combining the three objectives, Blair believes that his policy and aim of making public services more efficient can be achieved.

However, radical improvements outlined in New Labour policies and speeches are revealed to be the usual political empty promises. New hospitals are built but house fewer beds than the ones they replace. Fewer patients are treated on time. Waiting lists grow. Nurses are leaving the NHS due to their long hours and harsher working conditions. Thus voter dissatisfaction increases.

Foundation hospitals risk creating a two tier NHS where one tier has foundation hospitals where some improvements are evident whereas others are left to deteriorate in areas that are marginalised or unattractive to the interests of private companies.

The only real winners have been the government, who are still in power with the ability to spin and lie, while presiding over a budget that on the surface looks good. The closely linked companies involved have increased profits and contractually guaranteed annual income from taxpayers’ purse.

Meanwhile Blair pays little lip service to the underlying dissatisfaction felt by trade unions, public sector workers, who he labelled as one of the ‘forces of conservatism’ that was preventing New Labour’s project from taking shape. In light of the above they may be the country’s only real opposition. Their problem is that the actions of the PM for whom many of them voted do not match what they thought were his aims.

Prominent figures such as Chris Smith, Frank Dobson and Clare Short have joined the likes of Alan Simpson and Jeremy Corbyn on the Left of Labour, indicating that there is a growing resentment over the Blair’s growing rightwing stance and his appeasement of President Bush. Clearly their leader does not accurately represent them, certainly is not aligned with their beliefs and arguably never was.

On the surface Blair has an enduring positive image in the media and is seen to be doing his best to please everyone. To the readers of Saga magazine he is a caring father and family man. To business leaders and the CBI he is a man who wants economic growth and national prosperity to go hand in hand with tax rises and increased regulation so that social justice is seen to be done.

In his early years in Downing Street he hosted parties at which Stella McCartney and Oasis were guests, giving an image of being cool and youthful. At Princess Diana’s funeral he spoke softly and sounded emotional. When taking the decisions to go to war he was a tough, strong war leader. In a school he played the guitar while Home Secretary David Blunkett plays the drums. The kids think he’s fun, the teachers see he is good with children and the papers get their photos to go with an amusing caption.

From the very beginning of New Labour, politics has been treated in the above way and as a business rather than a genuine desire to improve and create a fair and just society. When Tony Blair became leader in 1994 while the Conservatives were still in power, he realised there was a void to be filled by his party.

The clique that was Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell allied themselves with the likes of pollster Philip Gould and looked to the Democrats’ Bill Clinton across the Atlantic for inspiration.

Like any company launching a new brand or product, New Labour embraced the Nineties corporate mantras of branding, focus group market research and that old Eighties slogan ‘image is everything’. While forging a power base in the Tory heartland of Middle England, they were also developing intimate relations with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Lord Sainsbury whose respective political and financial support they needed.

Blair embodied the brand being youthful, photogenic, clever, appealing to the influential female vote and symbolising the face of the party that would reinvigorate the country, generate a positive outlook, a sympathetic media view and give birth to New Britain.

The accompanying message was that the party would give voters their country back and with it improved schools, transport and hospitals that had been so recklessly underfunded by the Tories. People were promised that they would become stakeholders in a dynamic partnership between the private sector and the state, and the benefits were to be shared by all.

The brand had the usual political honeymoon period; the Conservatives were in disarray and have been ever since. New Labour made promises and espoused everything voters wanted to hear: ‘education, education, education,’ ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime,’ ‘the people’s party governing for all the people,’ ‘Britain’s first truly green government.’

The PM’s blind faith in these methods and the benevolence of business extends not just to the provision of public services, but in the conduct of politics, its fundamental priorities and to some extent the language he uses as well.

Blair speaks of treating people not just as citizens but also as individuals. What actually results is that we are treated as consumers. The image of New Labour is an image to be sold to the public. What matters is not the quality of the product – whether his policies are working and delivering tangible results to the electorate or not - but whether the message and image created has the desired effect and encourages support, and at election time a vote for the party.

The PM’s modernising agenda, the use of the words ‘radical’, ‘progressive’; the pledges to create jobs, safeguard communities, work with business, while achieving aims of social equality and justice, to look after the advantaged as well as the disadvantaged, while on the surface seeming sincere, disguise the fact that the very policies he believes in are those the Left usually opposes.

In one frank conversation with Paddy Ashdown and Roy Jenkins in 1997, Blair is reported to have said: ‘I have taken from my party everything they thought they believed in, I have stripped them of their core beliefs.’ During a speech at the Confederation of British Industry annual dinner in May the following year, he remarked that New Labour ‘rejects the outdated ideology of state control of the old left and the laissez-faire of the New Right.’

Liberal critic Ralf Dahrendorf identified this Third Way about which the PM pontificates as ‘a politics that speaks of the need for hard choices but avoids them by pleasing everyone.’ Roy Hattersley wrote that ‘taking the politics out of politics is not only absurd, it is democratically dangerous.’ Professor Anthony Giddens, the Blairite Director of the London School of Economics confessed in his 1999 Reith Lecture that: ‘Theoretical flesh needs to be put on the bones of policy making.’

In 1998 Blair wrote in a Fabian Society pamphlet: ‘The Third Way stands for modernised social democracy, passionate in its commitment to social justice and the goals of the centre-left, but flexible, innovative and forward-looking in the means to achieve them. It is founded on the values which have guided progressive politics for more than a century – democracy, liberty, justice, mutual obligation and internationalism.’

What has emerged in the years since he wrote those words is that this passion, innovation, flexibility and looking forward that he spoke of were no more than a disguise for the decisions then untaken: to use private means where the public sector was deemed to be failing, and to rely on the flexibility, innovation and progressive approach, putting faith in the ‘unstoppable force’ of the free market, globalisation, in business, science and technology to solve the country’s and the world’s social and political problems.

Where the Left seeks to curb the forces of globalisation and the increasing commercialisation of culture and public services, New Labour embraces them and believes they can be a force for good. Doubts and a precautionary approach just don’t seem to enter the equation in Blair’s mind. In admiring the proactive and risk-taking approach taken by the corporate CEOs he so admires, the PM seems to want to emulate them as much as possible in his politics, while at the same time almost indulging their every whim.

This managerial approach sees the old political principles of Right or Left, old Labour or Tory and their claims to political truth as kinds of fundamentalism. Because of the increased uncertainty of the world we live in, in his eyes you cannot impose top-down political solutions, but merely work out a functional response within the barriers of globalised markets, technology and communications.

Rather than attempting to shape these forces, his approach sees them as a given that political parties must live with rather than as political constructions in themselves that can be steered. This idealistic approach ignores the fact that the inherent neoliberal values that shaped global markets are a result of definite interests and political choices whose aim is to dominate social and economic policy. Blair sees his function as one of shaping a weak social policy around these forces.

In relation to Iraq, George Bush’s eagerness to go to war was one that could be perhaps delayed, but not opposed. The men in power in Washington and the imperialist foreign policy outlined by the Project for the New American Century organisation are seen as a given rather than the result of political choices or vested interests.

Likewise the unilateral approach of the US on the Kyoto Protocol is seen more or less as a given. In this light Kyoto is perhaps a failed example of the Third Way and arguably Blair is simply one of many in similar positions who increasingly take the same approach. Instead of analysing the facts and having the conviction to take a principled approach, politicians framed the policy around the ability of national governments to achieve small reductions in CO2 emissions while accommodating the demands of global corporations which must be taken as a given.

Similarly, on the subject of genetically modified crops, whereas the Left has its doubts about their merits and grave fears about their risks, the PM dismisses such views as ‘anti-science’. Any doubter of his is one of those ‘forces of conservatism’ to which he referred in 1999.

Rather than fulfilling the pledges that he espouses; those of social justice and equality in combination with market enterprise, and seeking to create a ‘New Britain’, perhaps Blair has been influenced by the same lobbyists and corporate interests who had close ties to the Tory Party when they were in power.

More sympathetic readers may believe he has naively embraced them in the hope that he can influence them in the necessary way so as to achieve his weak political aims. Either way, and to the detriment of the people he pledged to serve, many on the Left would agree that he has failed.

The PM pays but lip service to radical ideals and this is ultimately the downfall of his weak ideology. Aims such as social justice, equality and environmental protection cannot be achieved while economic growth and global markets are seen as givens over which politicians have little control. As I have suggested, on the contrary, this serves the definite interests, and does not challenge the political choices that led to this situation in the first place. When this is taken into account, Blair is merely a follower and not a leader at all.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

What The Apprentice Says About Blair's Britain

2006-05-03T04:24:00.000+01:00

A response to Jonathan Freedland's article on The Guardian's Comment is Free blog.

'London, shown in loving aerial shots, never looked so good.'

During the opening shots and throughout the programme, the images of the Gherkin, Canary Wharf and other skyscrapers dominate the skyline - a priapic reminder of the dominance of man, capitalism and the drive of testosterone to create, build and generate profit.

Underneath the streets, miles of fibre-optic cables flow with voice and data traffic. Roads, tube and railway lines carry a continuous stream of people like veins carry blood.

Low tax and inflation rates coupled with a workforce that is flexible, mobile and non-unionised create the ideal conditions for seduction. Plenty of fluffing by politicians, PR companies and the media help to stiffen the economic pecker. The prospect of a profit has a Viagra-like effect. Meanwhile, skilled young people pour in to get a piece of the action and feel the throb of the nation while the economies of their home countries struggle on impotently.

Each percentage point, each pound of profit generated by the economy reproduce and reinforce the ability for all this activity to take place. Each thrust of the body of the City strives to reach the ecstasy of an economic high while it drains the energy of the Earth.

A post-coital smog often lingers over London, and while the City's members carry on their carnal activities again and again, the planet is drained and many of its inhabitants are left feeling unfulfilled. Some feel dirty, others feel shamed. Only one partner in the capitalist coitus is finding it pleasurable.

As fans of The Apprentice will know, interactions and relationships between people underpin how business is conducted and whether a venture succeeds. Inevitably, submissive and dominant personalities tend to shape the proceedings. For example, Syed and Ruth have dominant alpha personalities, while Tuan was more of a submissive character.

What we see reflected in the images of the City, in much of the culture of global big business and in capitalism is power and dominance, in the pursuit of profit above all else.

That a deeper, and perhaps more unsavoury analogy can be applied in the context of these issues sits uneasily with many of us.

One of two words might sum up this predicament to some extent. One is nymphomania: like a sex addict, we cannot get enough of capitalism, the lives it enables us to live and everything around us which it produces. The other, however, is more disturbing: rape.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Aspirational Politics

2006-01-04T23:27:00.000Z

Remember 1997 and the feeling of 'euphoria' when Blair was swept into power?

After the slow decline of the Conservatives, suddenly we had the 'New Labour, New Britain' brand thrust upon us. A youthful, smiling Tony Blair swept into Downing Street.

The focus groups dictated the policies while the New Labour brand and the nice guy family man image gently lulled enough of the electorate into hoping for that New Britain and, more importantly, aspiring to vote for New Labour.

Blair offered hope and badly-needed investment in public services that had been chronically underfunded under the Tories.

Remember when Blair and New Labour were actually fashionable ?!

Media agency The Fish Can Sing report that David Cameron is number two in a list of influences on the middle classes.

Interestingly, number one is Jamie Oliver, whose cookbooks inhabit thousands of our kitchens, and whose programmes enthrall us as we aspire to live a healthier, less stressful life and eat better food.

Number three in the list, not to be forgotten, is Coldplay's Chris Martin, one of the influential celebrities involved in the Make Poverty History campaign and who, along with his wife and baby daughter, often graces the pages of our newspapers.

In an age of consumerism, when we are bombarded with pictures and soundbytes; when images are thrust upon our retinas so often each day demanding that we buy, do, go and have, Cameron is attempting to offer that we might be.

Geldof and Goldsmith are vital to the image. The traditional Lib Dems and a certain amount of Labour supporters - whom Cameron is attempting to win over - aspire to live in a world where poverty is history and where we can live according to ecological principles, or at least try to do so.

As we know, the reality is rather harsher, as Irwin Stelzer tried to explain on Radio 4, in The Sun and in The Guardian when Cameron suggested that capitalism is a form of extremism and that he might stand up to big business now and then.

Will the crucial 20 - 30 per cent of the electorate buy into the Cameron brand, just as millions of us have bought Jamie Oliver's books and Chris Martin's CDs and MP3s?

Elections have become PR campaigns for 'democracy'. A tick in a box is reduced to a crushing acceptance of the reality that only the edges of the status quo may be tinkered with.

Just like the millions of us who go to Tesco every week. Submissively and grudgingly, we trudge around the aisles, having to actively fight the attempts of the brightly-coloured packaging to trigger the memory of their respective TV advertisements from the depths of our brain.

If Cameron's brand, his policies and the celebrities hit your buy button, will a vote for him leave you feeling a bit happier about the future and a bit more positive about the state of the world?

Or will you feel a little bit empty, like when Jamie in Italy finishes and you gently but slowly realise you've been in a mild daydream whilst sat in front of the TV, eating your pasta that came from a packet with sauce that came from a jar?

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Will The Sun shine for a new Prime Spinister?

2006-01-02T22:22:00.000Z

Forests of newsprint and wells of ink continue to be sacrificed for the man of the moment.

The Guardian gave a positive endorsement of his thinking today, while their media correspondent reports that The Sun is thinking of backing him.

Rupert Murdoch 'appeared impressed' when he met with the Tory leader recently, we are told.

As a former corporate communications exec for Carlton Communications (now under the wing of ITV), Cameron and his team may succeed in securing the support of the Murdoch press, The Independent, The Guardian and The Mail.

Having had a Blair-Campbell team, are we now seeing a potential leader and spin doctor in one, in the shape of Cameron?

On the subject of the Murdoch press, last weekend's Sunday Times also featured a story on the front of its News Review section that suggests that there is a growing well of compassionate conservative thinking in the US.

According to the author, Cameron fits the image of what they are calling a 'crunchy conservative,' a term, it is implied, that derives from this socio-political grouping's penchant for crunchy organic vegetables.

On this note, it will be interesting to see how his speech to the Soil Assocation later this week is received in the media.

Of course, there is the danger that, like Blair, Cameron is attempting to seem all things to all voters, with his recent rejection of' 'isms'. Until we see more specifics on policy, it is probably too early to say. But we have to at least bear in mind this possibility.

The interesting point borne out in the Sunday Times story was that the writer, Rod Dreher, having prospered from the best opportunities and wealth creation of the Thatcher-Reagan era, is only now beginning to reject the consequences of the worst excesses of that era.

His children, like myself, and others younger than him, are now faced with a world that, despite its wealth of opportunities, also presents us with greater uncertainty and insecurity than ever before.

'Nobody can doubt that the free market policies pioneered by conservative governments in America and Britain in the 1980s shattered the shackles of statism and made both nations freer and richer. But they were based on fundamentally materialist assumptions about human nature which conservatives ought to have known were inaccurate and which would lead in time to a loss of purpose, of community, of idealism,' Dreher tells us.

The same political force that accelerated the creation of many of our political problems is now supposedly going to reject the worst elements of its policies and re-tailor them to meet the needs of communities, the environment and younger generations.

How palatable this idea will be to the business and socio-political base from which Cameron has risen, and how that base might shape the finer details of policy remains to be seen.

Update - Guido Fawkes has more on

Doublethinking David Cheerleader Cameron

2005-12-31T01:54:00.000Z

'I know I am being used,' Bob Geldof is reported as saying, in response to cynical comments about the Conservatives having signed him up as an adviser in their Globalisation and Global Poverty Group.

Zac Goldsmith, editor of The Ecologist magazine is also signed up as an environmental adviser. No doubt he is aware of the limits of his influence as well.

Who has most to gain from this, one wonders; Cameron or Zac 'n' Bob?

First let us consider the great strength of the Make Poverty History campaign and Live8. The organisers recognised the reality that in our consumer society and celebrity culture, they needed the support of popular musicians and celebrities to generate interest from, and capture an international audience of, millions of people. That had been proved by Live Aid.

Similarly, Cameron recognises this fact and sees that if he can attract one or two big names as 'policy advisers' then it will help him capture a certain amount of Labour voters wanting a change from Blair, possibly together with a significant proportion of disaffected Lib Dems.

Furthermore, if Cameron succeeds in convincing a fraction of the millions of British Live8 and Make Poverty History supporters that he genuinely is committed to their cause and they vote for him in the next election, he will be getting a good deal, to be blunt, in political terms.

Make Poverty History and Live8 were not without weaknesses. As tends to be the case with consumerism, they were all about a short-lived climax.

While Live8 rallied support and mobilised the masses, no amount of looking at that positive aspect can detract from the fact that mobilising people to watch or attend a free rock concert is, at its basest level, not the most engaging way to focus on the issues at the heart of the campaign.

In a similar way, the compassionate Conservatives image also fails to focus on the central issues at the heart of issues of global poverty and the environment.

The Tory leader's 'Campaign for Capitalism' essentially outlines how he will fall in line as a business cheerleader.

Given that priority, and much as I admire Zac Goldsmith's magazine, its outstanding journalism, and his willingness to engage with the Conservatives, I remain sceptical about the true impact he will have.

Cameron, not content with the work of the CBI, the WTO, large contingents of the EU, Peter Mandelson, Tony Blair and numerous other PRs, lobbyists, hangers-on and apparatchiks, sets out what he sees as a central problem in Britain:

The second threat to our future prosperity is less direct. It's the growing
cultural hostility to capitalism.

For too many people, profit and free trade are dirty words.

You can see it when our most popular capitalist entrepreneur thinks the
best way to win his bid for the National Lottery is to make it "non-profit."

You can see it in the Christian Aid poster that compares free trade to
a tsunami.

The consequence of this cultural hostility to capitalism has been a
massive rise in risk aversion, a willingness to concede more and more power to
the state to try and take more and more risks out of life.
Still thinking that Zac 'n' Bob can greenwash Cameron and co. and get them on the white band-wagon?

we need to campaign for capitalism.

To promote profit. To fight for free trade. To remind, indeed to educate, our citizens about the facts of economic life.

The message is simple - you cannot win the battle against red tape unless you win the intellectual and cultural battle for open markets.

The third great danger which threatens our competitiveness is the regulatory culture of the European Union.

Note the patronising tone. We must be 'educated' and 'reminded'.

And the 'great danger' that is the EU. That's Murdoch appeased then.

The EU is such a danger that thousands of lobbyists work in Brussels are employed precisely to ensure it doesn't 'threaten' the free market too much.

The media has enough cheerleaders, such as Polly Toynbee's nauseating waste of ink, paper and energy:

And things are getting better all the time, horizons widening, education spreading, everyone living longer, healthier, safer lives. Unimaginable luxuries and choices are now standard - mobile phones sending pictures everywhere, accessing the universe on the internet and iPods with all the world's music in your ear. Barring calamity, there will be better.

That is not journalism, it is spoonfeeding.

To this effect, Cameron is not offering a political vision. He is offering to serve as a new manager. A bit of organisational change here, a few big names there. A few tiny and therefore meaningless offerings of hope in the shape of policy advice on the environment and global poverty.

All the while never quite acknowledging that the fact that the ongoing 'Campaign for Capitalism' might be the source of either of those problems.

Seen in that light, it can only remain for me to leave you with the words of Orwell from his work of genius 1984:

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he
therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of
doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated.
The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of
falsity and hence of guilt.

To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies - all this is indispensably necessary.

Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For
by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act
of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie
always one leap ahead of the truth.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

How do Creationists teach geography?

2005-12-29T00:45:00.000Z

While reading an interesting piece on Darwinism recently, I began wondering how Creationists teach geography.

The Independent today reports that Creationism has spread to British schools.

How do Creationists explain the presence of mountains, glacial valleys and the other geological features of our landscape, which are scientifically proven to be thousands or millions of years old?

The problem with Creationism is that it implicitly paves the way for the capitalist approach to exploiting our natural environment.

Darwinism sees nature as the supreme creator, whereas Creationism sees nature as a creation of God, in whose image we are also supposedly made.

Conveniently, in this context, there can be no cause for concern that man should exploit his own world and its natural resources, rather than live within its ecological limits which are defined by the higher force of nature.

Darwinist theory, meanwhile, teaches that we evolved from nature, and from that implication, many might conclude that we should respect nature and live within ecological limits, rather than infinitely exploit the land and its resources.

As one of the unfortunate pupils at a Christian Brothers' school in Ireland, I am only too familiar with the dogmatic nonsense Creationists attempt to ram down pupils' throats.

Surely, kids should be presented with both theories and left to make up their own minds.

Then, their minds would at least have the opportunity to stretch to imagining that a higher force of nature might ultimately be responsible for their existence, rather than the easy, apathetic acceptance of believing in God.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Chomsky on the EU and the Irish PM

2005-12-29T00:26:00.000Z

Chomsky, who is speaking in Dublin on January 18th, has called Bertie Ahern new Ireland that has embraced consumer capitalism every bit as much as Britain or America did during the 1980s.

American technology companies such as Intel, Microsoft and Google have flocked to the country to take advantage of low corporation tax rates.

Indeed, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, I read recently sits on the board of the holding company through which Microsoft Ireland pays its tax in Ireland.

So perhaps it might be a little too much to expect any substantial criticism from The Irish Independent in its analysis piece.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Stealing The Prime Minister's Clothes

2005-12-09T01:42:00.000Z

Blair and New Labour stole the Tories' clothes and repackaged policies to woo Middle England all wrapped up in Tony's 'nice guy' image.

The suit has faded and so has Middle England's hope in New Labour. Time for David Cameron to steal back the shiny conservative cloth and tailor a new suit that fits.

Of course, we all know that there is no "new suit". There is the chance to offer some vague hope that where Blair has failed, Cameron might succeed. Will we buy into it?

The vagueness is what annoys me most, I think. The bicycle-riding loving father. Just a hint of environmentalism to appeal to Friends of the Earth and The Independent. The right image to get the female vote to put an X in his box. Wears jeans in a tragic attempt to appeal to young people...

Simon Carr, sketch writer at The Indy has taken perhaps the unprecedented step of likening Cameron to Liz Hurley

As he told Blair at the despatch box at PMQs, "You were the future once." And in that context, Cameron is already the past. Why?

Because the moment of pseudo-idealism has passed. He is now the Tory leader. The shackles of power are slowly locking around his ankles.

He is the past because he represents no alternative vision for Britain or for the world. He stood out at Eton and Oxford just the right amount to get noticed, but not too much so as to be too idealistic.
He has no radical new answers because he has not voiced any challenging or probing questions regarding our destiny.

The monolith of global capitalism is firmly cemented in place, thanks to the likes of Thatcher, her predecessors and successors.

To try and uproot or replace it would be to try to "turn back the clock" and become a "force of conservatism".

And yet in the coming weeks and months, the media will attempt to gently persuade us that Cameron is a face of hope. On the contrary, if joining the Tory party and becoming a leadership candidate is his idea of an attempt to inspire hope in the country, then he is to be pitied as a tragedy.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

We Make The Rules, War (And Lots of Money)

2005-11-23T08:03:00.000Z

Nice to know that freedoms of information and expression are not under threat at the moment...

From The Guardian:

The attorney general last night threatened newspapers with the Official Secrets Act if they revealed the contents of a document allegedly relating to a dispute between Tony Blair and George Bush over the conduct of military operations in Iraq.

It is believed to be the first time the Blair government has threatened newspapers in this way. Though it has obtained court injunctions against newspapers, the government has never prosecuted editors for publishing the contents of leaked documents, including highly sensitive ones about the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, last night referred editors to newspaper reports yesterday that described the contents of a memo purporting to be at the centre of charges against two men under the secrets act.

Under the front-page headline "Bush plot to bomb his ally", the Daily Mirror reported that the US president last year planned to attack the Arabic television station al-Jazeera, which has its headquarters in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where US and British bombers were based.

Richard Wallace, editor of the Daily Mirror, said last night: "We made No 10 fully aware of the intention to publish and were given 'no comment' officially or unofficially. Suddenly 24 hours later we are threatened under section 5 [of the secrets act]".

Protocol Fails As Airlines Profit

The Independent reports that increased aviation fuel emissions will undermine any reductions in greenhouse gases that result from the Kyoto Protocol.

Because no-one could agree on which country takes responsibility for aircraft emissions, they are not included in the Protocol.

Emissions trading schemes for airlines will have little effect and merely allow the situation to worsen.

Meanwhile budget airlines such as Easyjet report forecast-beating annual profits.

Guardian Columnist Apologises For Being Unfashionable

Some readers may have noticed that the name of this blog is part of the quote at the bottom of each post, which is from the film Wall Street.

Perhaps the most famous catchphrase from the film is: "Greed is good."

Apart from the fact that it inspired many present-day brokers and traders according to Michael Douglas, the film is perhaps unique in that his character Gordon Gekko espouses the idea that underpins globalisation.

The richest one percent of this country owns half the country's wealth: 5 trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds of it comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulation to widows and idiot sons and what I do - stock and real estate speculation.

It's bullshit. Ninety percent of the American people have little or no net worth. I create nothing; I own.

We make the rules, Buddy, the news, war, peace, famine, upheaval; the cost of a paper clip.

We pull the rabbit out of the hat while everybody else sits around their whole life wondering how we did it...you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy are you, Buddy?

It's the free market.

The Daily Mail recently reported - no sign of it online though I am afraid - that "Greed is back" in an article about City bonuses and some of those who will receive them.

Today Jonathan Freedland calls for a tax rise for the highest earners, apologising for his "unfashionable" viewpoint.

They even have their own magazine, Trader Monthly to serve their interests and desires.

For those of us hoping to find a voice on an alternative publishing model, however, Craigslist is working on a venture that might be of interest.

The article also features some worthy observations on the current state of the mainstream media.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Blair-Bush Legacy: More Oil, More Jets and Melting Glaciers

2005-11-22T06:15:00.000Z

Melting Planet Seeks Environmentally Friendly Politician

Alternative vision to status quo essential. Warmongers, friends of the oil industry, jet buyers and jet sellers need not apply.

Environmental stories featured prominently in recent newspaper reports. The Observer described glacial melting in Nepal and Bhutan, while The Independent features a report on the thawing of the world's largest glacier in Greenland.

Meanwhile Deputy PM John Prescott, not known for his eloquence, pours scorn on Sir Christopher Meyer, former British Ambassador in Washington and current head of the Press Complaints Commission.

Meyer's crime was to cash in on his privileged position, selling the juiciest extracts from his memoirs to newspapers who then gloated over his cutting criticism in describing various politicians, the harshest of which seemed to be reserved for Prescott.

Given that Cherie Blair has a book out reportedly describing life in Number 10, her penchant for bargains on Ebay and when buying apartments for her son, as well as Prescott's reputation for enjoying the odd trapping of power, he should remember the old adage about people who live in glass houses...

It is comforting to know that some of those who play in the higher echelons of the Westminster Wendy-house reveal their true selves in their childlike excitement at the prospect of a new toy...

As The Observer reported, Tony wants a new jet, but Gordon won't let him have one...

On the subject of jets, it is no wonder Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett wants post-Kyoto CO2 emission targets to be merely voluntary - begging the question: why bother? - because Blair isn't the only one with his eye on a shiny new phallic flying machine.

Bush proved that politicians are glorified salesmen (and not very good ones at that) by securing a welcome order for Boeing jets from China....would you buy a used 747 from Dubya?

Such is the aviation race between Europe's Airbus and America's Boeing, that the latter recently announced plans to make stretched 747 jumbo jets to compete with the latest offerings from their competitor.

Gordon Brown has been doing his bit as well, helping Rupert Murdoch more or less get his way - in this case secure football broadcasting rights for Sky TV - in Brussels.

In Iraq, meanwhile, oil corporations are jostling for position to drill more oil to burn in all these new planes.

So next time you are setting down to the latest match, one of the few opportunities we get - in our fast-paced and individualised world - for communal enjoyment and "atmosphere" (although much less so if in front of Sky TV on your own), we can concentrate on enjoying the game, safe in the knowledge that everything is all right with the world.

While some parts of the planet are melting, politicians are confident that, thanks to the spoils of Iraq, lots more black gold will soon be flowing as fast as jets can be sold to burn it.

Others are trading in jibes and personal attacks while another helps secure more football for us to watch in the hope that we might forget it all.

Media Lens Latest on the Smearing of Chomsky

Media Lens published its response to the smearing of Chomsky, and end their detailed and well-argued position on a thoughtful snippet that actually praises him, which they found, albeit in the Birthdays section of - you guessed it - The Guardian...

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

"What the hell, it's only Chomsky"

2005-11-19T04:10:00.000Z

The Guardian's readers' editor issued an answer to the several hundred emails that had been sent in complaining about the website, you can still read it on the above blog site by Zmag writer David Peterson.

The whole affair smacks of a "what the hell, its only Chomsky" attitude.

Can you imagine the same pathetic response of a few paras in the corrections & clarifications if Brockes had interviewed Gordon Brown or Tony Blair, for example, and caused the same uproar?

...Oh hang on she did interview Blair, and was very careful to avoid anything too controversial, or anything of real originality or actual political interest whatsoever.

It is very weak that Emma Brockes has remained silent on the matter, not issuing a personal apology, and that the paper has retracted her interview from their website, therefore not "standing by their story" to use the phrase that comes to mind.

In this context the readers' editor, far from being responsible for correcting all mistakes, errors and omissions and following up all complaints, looks like a figure who merely serves to justify them and their occurrence, with explanatory platitudes such as "journalistic pressures".

A new low for The Grauniad - the old image of which, incidentally, it seems a little too determined to shake off.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Pointless or A Privilege? - Pilger and Paxman on Journalism

2005-11-14T17:29:00.000Z

Veteran journalist and documentary maker John Pilger told The Observer that he sees journalism as 'a great privilege, in which the journalist is allowed into people's lives and trusted to go away and tell their stories.'

Meanwhile chief BBC Newsnight inquisitor Jeremy Paxman told The Independent on Sunday that he sees the media as 'underpaid and oversubscribed,' adding: 'What is the point of pursuing a career in the media?'

Surely Paxman's famous cynicism could have taken a back seat for a moment to allow him a minute to think of a witty or inspiring comment that might encourage journalism graduates on their quest?

As someone who regularly holds politicians to account in front of thousands of viewers, one would have hoped he could have come up with one or two reasons why investigative journalism in particular needs all the apprentices it can muster.

Well argued, genuinely interesting stories that challenge the establishment and the status quo now and then are needed more than ever before, as we try not to slip under the wheels of the juggernaut of globalisation, which we are forever being told is 'unstoppable.'

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

The Guardian Plays "The Only Game in Town"

2005-11-13T09:10:00.000Z

The Guardian seems to be trumpeting its business-friendly, modern and mainstream Blairite agenda in an increasing number of its articles. This writer displays mild alarm at a psychologist working with an investment bank suggesting that material goods provide only short-term satisfaction.

The City editor takes delight in wondering if there is any point limiting supermarket Tesco’s market share and punishing a successful business, if the only result may be that another supermarket’s market share is likely to increase a little.

Jonathan Porritt, former Friends of the Earth director tells John Vidal that capitalism is the agent of change and “the only game in town.”

And finally, Irwin Steltzer, a writer more at home in the business section of The Sunday Times than The Guardian, graced its pages recently. Known as Rupert Murdoch’s “representative on Earth”, and to have an open door to Number Ten whenever he needs to whisper in the Prime Ministerial ear, Steltzer says we should ask if what Blair is doing “is right for Britain?”

It is particularly patronising when he implies we should be eternally grateful that Blair is “attempting to engineer a massive shift of power from trade unions to consumers, to restore to individuals greater power to control large portions of their own lives.”

If we are all condemned to participate in “the only game in town,” it would seem that The Guardian is increasingly putting the case for the winners.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Gordon's Rebuttal Unit Spins Into Life

2005-11-07T07:59:00.000Z

A government rebuttal unit spun into life somewhere in Westminster yesterday, running on biofuel, no doubt...

The IoS also carries a report that Gordon Brown is in favour of cutting Britain's carbon dioxide emissions targets...at the same time another story says that production of petrol made from sugar beet and diesel made from oilseed rape will help meet the target.

The exagerration at the opening of the report - "Every British motorist..." is rather irresponsible in my view. The article seems at pains to cheer for a positive environmental story, and I cannot help remaining somewhat cynical about it.

As a percentage the uptake will be fairly small...this is more about good PR for the oil multinationals and the government than anything. And I get the feeling that it is no coincidence that the "positive" story followed a negative one about the Chancellor and the emissions target.

Don't you just love a well spun story?

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Smearing Chomsky - Journalism or Cynicism?

2005-11-07T03:37:00.000Z

An interview with Noam Chomsky in The Guardian has provoked heated debate on the message boards, on other blogs and it seems the email servers of the newspaper are sizzling as hundreds of readers vent their displeasure at seeing a respected thinker and academic rubbished by a young pretender.

An email sent by Diana Johnstone sets out the truth about the issue at the heart of the argument, but also points out the glaring lack of fact-checking or pre-interview research.

She has also interviewed Stephen Hawking and Gore Vidal in the past - and each time the tone of the interview seems to be sneeringly disrespectful. Brockes's CV reads like that of an ambitious and talented writer...but...

Take her interview with Tony Blair in 2002, for example. It starts as you would expect and then kind of descends from there, touching on family, kids, image...at one cringeworthy moment she asks something along the lines of 'don't you think Bush is an eejit?' Not very Paxman-esque, one concludes. Another earlier interview with Ariel Sharon is equally uninspiring.

Where is the question about New Labour's Thatcherite credentials, about being Michael Foot's protégé, about the threat of climate change, about the lack of competing political visions, about the short-termism of globalisation, about the individualisation, corporatisation and consumerisation of our world....about the kind of world Blair would like Leo to grow up in?

The approach Brockes takes towards Chomsky and Vidal betray a cynical attitude towards them and their ideas, but more importantly towards her readers. Perhaps her aim was to annoy those who admire and respect them. But it is also telling in that she was not so cynical with Blair, more fawningly awestruck.

Her interview with Blair takes the softly-softly approach, and perhaps she did this so she is in with a good chance when the opportunity to interview him for The Guardian comes round again.

Perhaps there is an undertone of irony or the deliberate arrogant disdain of youth that we are meant to get? If so, it is not very effective in my humble opinion.

As a journalism graduate myself, I admit to the odd flirtation with arrogant disdain myself, but in any of the situations in which Miss Brockes has had the good fortune to find herself, I would have done rigorous research, asked colleagues for any helpful pointers, and maybe even thought for a moment or two about what might interest the good people who would read the finished article.

It is easy to go into a situation with preconceptions and biases and fall into the trap of letting these get the better of your journalistic instincts. Chomsky and Vidal are most likely to command respect from many Guardian readers. Why not ask a question in the hope of showing a new reason to give that respect, or try to shine the light on some new aspect or angle of their thinking that others have not brought to light?

As for Blair, some Guardian readers probably have a sneaking admiration for him. Others, less so. But why not attempt to get some new insight from the Prime Minister on deeply important, weighty issues, rather than ask the kind of questions you might expect from an interviewer from The Sun?

A writer on Counterpunch has also written about the Chomsky interview here.

Meanwhile the Independent on Sunday mentioned the issue as well.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Cheap Flights, Mr Right, and a Treat for Chomskyites

2005-10-25T22:59:00.000+01:00

The Independent is perhaps the leading newspaper in Britain for reporting on environmental issues and climate change. And yet I am not the only one to notice the contradiction between the championing coverage of environmental issues and their cheap flights offer

The Guardian has also been guilty in the past of the same thing, and I remember a reader being told something along the lines of 'The promotions department and editorial department are totally separate and function independenly of one another.'

It is a given that newspapers need to make a profit and need to generate income to pay salaries, expenses and all the rest of it. However, I occasionally wonder if the editorial themselves ever consider the unfortunate irony of the predicament they and their newspapers are in.

These made the letters page:

Flight contradiction
Sir: I am confused, even troubled... readers of The Independent are regularly advised to be aware of, and then still more aware of, the dangers facing our blue planet from, among other things, global warming. We are told that the rise in cheap, more or less frivolous, flights is one of the growth areas and greatest contributors to this problem. So please could you tell me how you justify offering 280 £10 tickets to New York on your front page?
EMILY YOUNG
LONDON W11

Standby for flights
Sir: I hope that you will advise the lucky 140 couples who win tickets to New York not to leave their appliances on standby. As you say in your editorial (24 October): "there can be no excuses. We must all do our bit to preserve the environment."
MR S U SJOLIN
BURY ST EDMUNDS, SUFFOLK

I am not often one to feel sorry for celebrities whose private lives are endlessly pored over in the news, but I have to confess to feeling a considerable degree of sympathy for Ulrika Jonsson.

In the past few days The Daily Mail and the News of the World have dragged her failed relationship over the coals in a somewhat gloating fashion.

Happiness can be a fleeting emotion and it appears to have fled Lance and Ulrika for one reason or another. Ulrika is bright, gorgeous and intelligent so why can't she find someone with whom to be happy and realise her potential?

On a more serious note....

For Irish Chomskyites who may or may not be reading, he is giving a talk in January in Dublin that should see Trinity College being packed to the rafters.

Register your interest now as it is first come, first served!

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Journalism, Tories and a voucher for readers

2005-10-21T18:47:00.000+01:00

Returned from Belfast yesterday after an interesting interview for my writing project.

It is a curious place - passing the more upmarket areas of the city and looking at the busy lunchtime streets and new construction projects, you would not think it was a city that has seen such horror, pain and violence.

News of the Tory leadership election receiving a lot of coverage on the BBC TV news and Radio 4. Elsewhere in the media, Wednesday's Independent had a front page story on China and the impending environmental time bomb there.

Today's Independent has coverage of evidence of global warming in Alaska. It is the type of report I would like to write myself one day.

It is worrying how the mainstream media scrum clamoured to cover the Tory leadership story - which in light of the above environmental stories just hardly seems that important.

Where is the debate on this issue? Who has answers?

I received an email today that seems to originate from this website - the email is quite text-heavy, but I sympathise with its sentiment.

Finally, I have a little treat for anyone who is reading this. Perhaps I should qualify that by adding if anyone is reading this: a € 3 voucher on the Magazines 365 website

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

18th October

2005-10-18T22:27:00.000+01:00

A number of topics to cover today:

I notice in the Daily Mail that Greg Dyke is in talks to present a new business show on Radio 4.
Their podcasts are great for bus or train journeys, and particularly handy as I cannot get any BBC stations here.

The In Business and From Our Own Correspondent shows are very informative - I have not succumbed to the Ipod craze, but instead listen to it on my Nokia 6230i.

On the subject of Nokias, I note that they have several more new phones on their website, one of which is the E 60

The Curiosities of Online Dating

I have to sheepishly admit to being signed up with a number of dating sites, all of which feature any number of interesting and attractive young ladies.

For some reason, when looking at the latest uploaded photos, I am increasingly drawn to thirtysomethings like this. Whether I will get in touch with someone and actually meet them through a site like this I do not know...

One thing that does strike you is the sheer number of people on these sites. I fail to see how it might be logically possible for everyone on them to meet their match.

On the one occasion that I did begin writing to a girl, she went a bit weird and so I stopped emailing her. She then got hold of my mobile phone number which was listed on a site along with my email address which she had googled.

Texts and phone calls and a final email followed and I politely asked her to leave me alone after she had said she had thought about visiting me and had tried to find out my home address.

Not the most inspiring story I know. Still, due to a somewhat pathetic social life, I plan to try another dating site based in Dublin.

On the subject of dating, I read of a successful blog called Chasing Bridget written by a 27 year-old guy in London...it seems I am not the only one in this situation.

A View to Inspire

I will be going to Belfast tomorrow afternoon, working in Dublin for several hours first. One of the benefits of being in Belfast is that they still use proper money there rather than this Euro monopoly money we have down here. The other thing is I will be able to get a BBC radio reception there.

This is the inspiring and beautiful view I pass on
the train journey along the south Dublin coast.

It is the view from the train near the village of Dalkey.

On a bright morning, when the sun has risen or is beginning to break through the clouds, it is a view that has the power to lift the soul.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Caught in a web

2005-10-18T02:15:00.000+01:00

Sunday Times readers among you might have read this article in the magazine.

Doubtless you did not give a second thought to how the content of the story contrasted with the advertisements alongside its text and elsewhere in the magazine. We read about the precipice on which modern life teeters, and at the same time few of us pause and consider that the magazine's advertisements encourage us to perpetuate the situation and we turn the page.

Today, The Independent published a booklet documenting flora and fauna that will not be around for our children to see. There is also an article entitled 'Everything you do has an impact on the planet'

Note how it does not mention how your purchase of the newspaper has provided one more reader who will see advertisements attempting to sell you one more thing to impact the planet.

'But I didn't buy it, I read it on the web,' you protest. And so you will have seen the advert for the Vauxhall car.

Although we have a web of infinite knowledge at our disposal (and remember we are a minority since most people on the planet have yet to make a phone call, let alone send an email or read a newspaper website), we are also caught in a different kind of web.

I am not holier than thou by the way, and I hope I don't come across that way. In our household you will, on any given day, find several newspapers. Sky TV is beamed into our living room as we would only have two channels with just an aerial.

Since Blogger is also financed by advertising, you will also forgive the irony...I should really pay for a domain and a hosting package...need to work on the content here first and maybe I might actually be worth reading.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

All About Bucks

2005-10-17T00:52:00.000+01:00

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.

Welcome to my blog. A space for some diary entries, thoughts and observations on life.

Who am I?

Where do I live and what do I do?

Why am I writing this?

How will it be relevant to you?

And what is the relevance of the quote from Wall Street?

All will be revealed soon.

'It's all about bucks kid, and the rest is just conversation.' - Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's film, Wall Street.