The kudos of Paris

I find it very easy to dream of living and working in France. Paris ideally.

It’s not quite as fanciful as it sounds. Michael Thomas is teaching me French as I travel to and from work each morning, I am working my way through a primary school’s reading list ( Le Petit Nicolas et les Copains is my current book of choice) and to really get in the spirit of things I have also bought a book called How To Shrug Like The French. I have yet to reach the shrugging lessons but am now well versed in the importance of opening my shutters and shaking my bedding.

My French is perfect in my little dream, I have a job where I switch seamlessly from English to Francais, and I proudly say “I live in Paris now”. I am able to use the free bikes which are scattered around the city but sadly not for tourist use. (As an aside Boris Johnson’s idea was based on the success of the Paris scheme.)

Just to keep up my stereotype I’d specifically meet friends of the Eurostar at Le Gare de Nord complete with said velo, and a baguette in my front basket.  I’d be wearing the latest outfit I picked up at Galleries Lafayette, and talking about a crazy artist I’d seen in Montmartre.  Bliss.

Now I find that Parisians are losing kudos in their own city and shunning the 75 car number plates which indicate where  a car is registered. Parisians no longer want to be known as Parisians.

Pah!

Times correspondent Charles Bremner, explains residents of the Seine-Saint-Denis, the rough north-east suburbs which make the headlines for riots, want to ditch the 93 associated with their address.  While this is understandable to hide an anti-des res I have yet to imagine why one would like to hide their Parisian address.

How do I now learn the art of shrugging like the French if the very art of that means almost turning up my nose at a city which I have placed on a (rather tall) pedestal.

My task just got a little more difficult. It is yet to be impossible.

Now where is Nicholas and his friends, we have work to do.

Police statement on phone tapping

Statement from AC Yates from the Met.

I have been asked by the Commissioner today to establish the facts around our inquiry into the alleged unlawful tapping of mobile phones by Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcaire. I was not involved in the original case and clearly come at this with an independent mind.

Just by way of background. In December 2005, the MPS received complaints that mobile phones had been illegally tapped.

We identified that Goodman and Mulcaire were engaged in a sophisticated and wide ranging conspiracy to gather private and personal data, principally about high profile public figures. Clearly they benefited financially from these matters.

Our inquiries found that these two men had the ability to illegally intercept mobile phone voice mails. This is commonly known as phone tapping.

Their potential targets may have run into hundreds of people, but our inquiries showed that they only used the tactic against a far smaller number of individuals.

In January 2007, Goodman and Mulcaire were jailed for four and six months. They pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully intercept communications.

Mulcaire also pleaded guilty to an additional five charges relating to similar matters.

Sentencing the two men, Mr Justice Gross at the Old Bailey said the case was “not about press freedom, it was about a grave, inexcusable and illegal invasion of privacy.”

The police investigation was complex and was carried out in close liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service, Senior Counsel and the telephone companies concerned.

The technical challenges posed to the service providers to establish that there had in fact been interception were significant.

It is important to recognise that our enquiries showed that in the vast majority of cases there was insufficient evidence to show that tapping had actually been achieved.

Where there was clear evidence that people had potentially been the subject of tapping, they were all contacted by the police.

These people were made aware of the potential compromise to their phones and were offered preventative advice.

However, after extensive consultation with the CPS and Counsel, only a few were subsequently identified as witnesses in the proceedings that followed.

I said earlier in this statement that these two men were engaged in a sophisticated and wide ranging conspiracy to gather personal data about high profile figures. One was a private detective and one was a journalist. It is reasonable therefore to expect them to be in possession of data about such matters as this is part and parcel of their job.

I emphasise that our enquiries were solely concerned with phone tapping. This, as far as we are aware, affected a much smaller pool of people.

There has been a lot of media comment today about the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. This investigation has not uncovered any evidence to suggest that John Prescott’s phone had been tapped.

****

This case has been subject of the most careful investigation by very experienced detectives. It has also been scrutinised in detail by both the CPS and leading Counsel. They have carefully examined all the evidence and prepared the indictments that they considered appropriate.

No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded.

I therefore consider that no further investigation is required.

However, I recognise the very real concerns, expressed today by a number of people, who believe that their privacy may have been intruded upon.

I therefore need to ensure that we have been diligent, reasonable and sensible, and taken all proper steps to ensure that where we have evidence that people have been the subject of any form of phone tapping, or that there is any suspicion that they might have been, that they have been informed.

Shortner-whacking

Initially I was going to tweet this idea but I realised it needed slightly more than 140 characters to do the job justice.

Remember Google whack? You put two random unconnected words into Google search in the vague hope you can find something which returns just one result. Dave Gorman led the field and even wrote a book about it.

Well my new idea is shortner whacking. I like to use http://ow.ly as a shortner and I know it creates a four-letter redirect. For example http://ow.ly/dZjg so I decided to have a whack and just type some random ones into my URL bar.

It is quite fun and you know you’re going to find stuff that is midly amusing, rude, newsy or just plain odd because someone went to the effort of setting up a shorty in the first place. You can try it with Tiny Bitly. is.gd etc. Anyone dudes have fun. I ended up here http://ow.ly/dZjg

Not Yet Rain

About this film: Not Yet Rain
It is difficult to convey the real-life impact of unsafe abortion in a way that does justice to women facing impossible reproductive choices in places where abortion is restricted and poverty determines health care options. How much more powerful and informative if these women were given a forum to speak for themselves?

Not Yet Rain, a short film by Lisa Russell in association with Ipas, addresses the issue of unsafe abortion through the voices of women who have faced these difficult choices.

I misread!

How sick is the New York Times?

I read the headline and I’m thinking, strweth what did it do? Publish a picture of a dead kitten? Stand-by while innocent children died? What exactly?

But ah, no, the writer is merely asking is the NYT in the same boat as every other newspaper. Falling advertising, lower pagination, that type of thing. How bad are things at the NYT? Well, writer Mark Potts asks if Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates or A.N. Other should be brought in to save it. Wow. I guess it is really sick.

Reporters preparing news for the internet.

I think similar things will happen in a lot of newsrooms. As long as the quality of copy is not compromised there is no reason why reporters can’t help prepare a story for the web in the way they prepare it for print.

And more than that, reporters need to get to know their websites to understand where their stories are positioned on homepages and in topic channels.

Reporters should care just as much about being having the best read story online as they should having a page 1 byline.

Originally posted as a comment by nci1 on Press Gazette using Disqus.

Reporters preparing news for the internet.

I think similar things will happen in a lot of newsrooms. As long as the quality of copy is not compromised there is no reason why reporters can’t help prepare a story for the web in the way they prepare it for print.

And more than that, reporters need to get to know their websites to understand where there stories are positioned on homepages and in topic channels.

Reporters should care just as much about being the best read story online as they should having a page 1 byline.

Originally posted as a comment by nci1 on Press Gazette using Disqus.

Reporters preparing news for the internet.

I think similar things will happen in a lot of newsrooms. As long as the quality of copy is not compromised there is no reason why reporters can’t help prepare a story for the web in the way they prepare it for print.

And more than that, reporters need to get to know their websites to understand where there stories are positioned on homepages and in topic channels.

Reporters should care just as much about being the best read story online as they should having a page 1 byline.

Originally posted as a comment by nci1 on Press Gazette using Disqus.

Great British

There is a risk that Royal Mail will be part privatised and it would appear that the Dutch and German mail operators are the frontrunners to take over part of the business.

Call me nostalgic, old-fashioned but there’s something very English about Royal Mail.

Lord Peter Mandleson says that Royal Mail definitely needs a new partner to invest in the business.

But take a step back from the economic turmoil and look at the nice things that Royal Mail does.

And this week it secured its ture-Brit position by unveiling 10 designs of stamps.

It features Reginald Mitchell’s Spitfire.

Included in the list of design greats is the Spitfire, Mary Quant’s mini-skirt, the London Underground map by Harry Beck and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott bright red telephone kiosk.

The rest of the list is the Penguin book jacket designed by Edward Young,  Mini of Sir Alec Issigonis, the Anglepoise lamp by George Carwardine,  a Polypropylene Chair, Concorde by Aerospatale-BAC and a Routemaster red bus by AAM Durrant.

If Royal Mail is going to celebrate British-ness it can’t be owned by a foreign country – can it?

Space Centre was on-par with Beagle-2 – a failure

During my week off I had the pleasure of visiting my old stomping ground of Leicester.

I’d planned a day out at the National Space Centre which I thought would be on a par with London’s Science Museum. I’m sad to say it wasn’t. It was a huge waste of time and the day was only saved by a lovely afternoon in Leicester city centre, but, back to the Space Centre.

Leicester has few national attractions so you would think everyone involved in the project – Leicester University, Leicester City Council, BT, the East Midlands Development Agency and the Millennium Commission would want it to be a success.

The national space centre web site promises….

‘The award winning National Space Centre is the UK’s largest attraction dedicated to space. From the minute you catch sight of the Space Centre’s futuristic Rocket Tower, you’ll be treated to hours of breathtaking discovery and interactive fun.’

I actually wanted to learn something about space but exhibts were overly simplifed to appeal to children. Except it doesn’t even do that. Some of the children I saw there were bored. The most exicitng bit being a simulated space mission which was a rather uncomfortable ride and even broke half way through.

I’m all for interactivity to help children learn about science but by attempting to appeal to the lowest common denominator it appeals to no-one. Children complain there is too much reading. Anything I read was not in-depth enough.

The thing is I really did want it to be the success so if I’m disappointed, I hate to think what would have been the reaction from someone dragged there by parents, other-halfs or school trips. I’ve been wanting to go to the Space Centre for ages and it only added to my dissapointment that it was a let down. The eye-catching building which dominates the surrounding skyline has a rocket, just as advertised, but it’s just not all that great.

Much is made of Beagle-2 and it’s trip to Mars but only a single line is dedicated to it’s failure. Which is the very essence of what the National Space Centre is. A failure.

As I wanted the space centre to be such a success I will offer in its defence that maybe I didn’t see it at it’s best. The day I went I inadvertly stumbled across a world record attempt for the most Doctor Who Daleks in one place. Enter stage left, middle-aged man with life-sized Dalek they had built themselves and hyper-active kids dressed in suits picked up in Woolies for a tenner.

But the Doctor Who theme aside there was just not enough there to keep me entertained for “hours” as the website suggested.

I can only wonder if my experience in Leicester was anywhere near similar to that people have experienced at Ceramica, Burslem. It too is a Millennium project this time supported by Advantage West Midlands.

But Stoke-on-Trent City Council now may have to sell off the building in order to repay the cash to the project. That will be the end of Ceramica.

Which other Millennium projects are sturggling in the wake of the recession with talk of credit crunch, jobs losses, redundancies and interest rate cuts to steady the economy.