Monday 27 October 2008

The most daring show on TV

Spooks. It has to be. Apart from the terrific music, the riveting camera work, the authentic feel of tradecraft, they are just so ruthless with their characters. Adam Carter was the life and soul of Spooks. Plenty of strong characters around him but without him it would be different. And now we'll know, because they've killed him off. What other series on any channel, either side of the Atlantic would be so profligate with the characters it has nurtured so carefully? Adam is not the first, and it's a brilliant strategy because it underlines for us the cost paid by the people who do this kind of work. It lends a kind of authenticity to the series that could not be bought any other way.

George Osborne

The BBC headline says "I made a mistake, admits Osborne".

Just the one?

Sunday 19 October 2008

Thursday 16 October 2008

As cats get older...



... they seem to get cuter.

Thursday 9 October 2008

Eat Sussex Day

Low Carbon Ringmer is having an Eat Sussex event on the afternoon of Oct 11th. Read more about it here. And check out the smoothie bike; it's brilliant.

Wednesday 1 October 2008

It's all about character

So says Dave. Well, he would wouldn't he, as he doesn't have experience on his side. It was quite a decent response in some ways - now there's a battle on.

But I can't help thinking about character. What do you say about the character of a party leader whose two main funders have broken promises, and clearly intend to continue breaking them, and he can bring himself to do nothing about it?

Lord Ashcroft promised to be a UK tax payer if he became a lord. He is very secretive about his movements and his businesses. He's entitled to be. But when David Cameron makes noises about cleaning up the mess in British politics he needs to ensure that his own party's receipts are squeaky clean. So is Lord Ashcroft a UK taxpayer? Ashcroft recently grudgingly confirmed that he pays tax in the UK, but wasn't specific about how much,or on what basis, when it would have been easy to do so. His behaviour leaves open the assumption that he is still hiding something. And those donations wend their way to the Tory party via a chain of companies, according to Channel 4, ending up with a British based company which donates more to the party than its own turnover. Why the stealth? It invites an assumption that there is something fishy about the origin of the money. But Dave isn't bothered about that in the slightest.

Lord Laidlaw made a written promise in 2003 that he would become a UK taxpayer if he became a Lord. He clearly never intended to keep that promise. Does Dave care? Apparently not. Lord Laidlaw has now apparently taken leave from the House of Lords. But he's still a Lord, and a broken promise continues to lie on his silver salver.

And what about Ian Oakley? He conducted a sustained, vicious, deliberate, premeditated, three year long campaign of hatred, harrassment and intimidation of political opponents while he was the Conservative candidate for Watford. He has admitted to 75 offences committed over that time. And Dave has not uttered one word of condemnation.

Yes. I do wonder about character.