Among yesterday’s front pages was a data visualisation which, at first glance, was one of the most effective I’ve ever seen: the Independent had made an infographic showing yesterday’s £6bn budget cuts in context - as a fraction of a debt mountain.
Then I looked closer - and something’s very, very wrong.
Can you tell what it […]
Best Prime Minister’s Question of all time? Patrick Cormack MP: “What does the Prime Minister want for Christmas?”. Seemingly knocked the Gord for six, too. Eventually he decided “a single day off”. Ambitious.
Saturday’s Guardian ran an article titled Do you want Lloyds or HSBC? Account details for sale online. It was so, so, nearly a great story - a bit of creative thinking and online investigation leading him to discover forums selling access to bank account, pricing by balance. The standfirst read: “Details of UK bank customers offered for as little as $75″
One small issue: the article never showed this was the case. The reporter (one Robert Booth) paid his money for some account details, and at the time of writing hadn’t received any details. What occurred to me - before I read that fact - was this would be a brilliant con in itself. Con would-be fraudsters out of some money by offering to sell bank details you don’t possess. They can’t exactly go to the police with THAT one, can they?
This article doesn’t prove a thing. If they had the bank details, then their original story can run as verified - probably with some nice quotes from the genuine account holder. If bank details were never sent, they may have a fantastic little story about conning the conners. As it stands, they had neither.
All that work, all that initiative ruined, when waiting just another day or so would have verified one or other of the lines. Why was it so important to get the piece in the Saturday edition? All in all, it thoroughly demoralised me, personally. Wonder how the writer felt?
Final, irrefutable proof of Conservative bias at the BBC was anonymously handed to TwentyNothing today. Have a look at the screenshot below:
(Click to enlarge)
It’s subtle, but you may notice extra prominence was given to David Cameron’s picture than Gordon Brown. Shocking, eh? Of course, they shrunk it straight back down once they realised I was on to them….
Watching Dragons’ Den on Beeb2. Is it just me or is Duncan Bannatyne much grumpier than he used to be? If he’s paid to appear, they’re not getting great value-per-word this time, are they? Hope he hasn’t had some personal issue or some such.
Unusually almost every paper - even the Independent - had the same cover story yesterday. It wasn’t a tough call: a major cock-up in a Government department led to 25 million people’s records being lost. This would be any ID fraudsters dream, is the largest ever data leak and directly affects half of the population of the UK. That level immediacy is a very, very rare thing. So, what did the Daily Express run on its cover? Have a look:
But how on earth does a paper justify running a 7 month old disappearance story and a 10 year old car crash over real news? There is something seriously wrong on the news values of that thing, especially when you compare it with nearest rival (ideologically at least), the Daily Mail. It’s no wonder one outsells the other 3:1, really.
In other news: is it really only me that thinks yesterday’s Sun headline will go down as one of their best ever? “Skip to the loo, my Darling”. Ok, it’s ambiguous, but it’s brilliant nonetheless.
The new NHS site has a feature looking at health and science stories and how well they stand up with the research. It’s really accessible and looks great. So far, I’m really impressed - long may it continue
King’s Head Theatre, Islington
Rating: 
Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson is the star of The Bicycle Men; a fact so noteworthy that it is prominently featured on the play’s advertising material. It seems to be a successful marketing ploy, as the small theatre is packed. If they’re hoping to see the real-life Homer, they are in for a disappointment: Castellaneta sounds nothing like his yellow alter ego.
An American tourist, Steve, is stranded in an eccentric French village while he waits for his bike to be fixed. This simple premise provides the backdrop for a series of tenuously related musical skits, lampooning religion, race relations, and (of course) the French.
The performance from the four-strong cast is strong, but the absurd nature of the overarching plot is deeply unsatisfying. In an early scene Castellaneta sings to a baby that life has no meaning beyond what we give it. His words could as easily be spoken about the play.
The Bicycle Men lacks focus. Too many of its characters are hackneyed stereotypes – grumpy storekeepers, comic mimes and overfamiliar waiters – for the production to be playing it straight, but a successful parody needs to be sharp and fresh, and The Bicycle Men is neither.
Scene changes are accompanied by assorted scenes of physical theatre; Dan Castellaneta jerks sporadically round the stage as his fellow cast members swing the furniture about him. These confusing interludes completely disrupt the production’s flow, while adding nothing to its material.
The production is puerile and sporadic, unable to decide whether it likes cheap sex jokes or is sending them up. Its incorporation of diverse styles of theatre and presentation is the same: there is no way to tell what’s in earnest and what is being parodied. The overall effect is that of a jumble of ideas and approaches thrown out to the audience, in the hope that each member will find something they like.
Instead, they largely walk out mumbling: “Which one was Homer Simpson then?”
I’ve made a few minor alterations about the place. The header image on the homepage is new; recent posts now have an excerpt and there’s a tag cloud (indeed, each post has tagging, now). I’d appreciate opinions - better, or too cluttered?
The update process was utterly horrible: at one point I managed to not only screw up the whole site, but lose the entire archive of posts. A sequence of small miracles later, and we’re back. You’ll notice things look quite similar. Bah.
Updating to Wordpress 2.3; expect craziness for a few hours.
Here’s hoping the DB doesn’t wipe: I foolishly didn’t backup.
