Dunphy again

Clearly in need of throwing a grump, I've tuned into NewsTalk 106 online again, during Dunphy's show.

I hope they don't let too many of those coarse Dublin accents on the near-national version. Really off-putting.

Yes I know that probably is bigoted, but it grates so much…

I don't know how much this applies to other people from outside Dublin. A lot of people do listen to Joe Duffy after all.

But that is a rant for another time, on the image of people power excusing democracy.

Anyway, Dunphy on newstalk is sounding ok right now.

Grump!

Silence!

I'm back home in Ireland for the weekend.
I was tired after the early start, so had a kip in the mid afternoon. And I woke to up a mysterious sound…
A soft thud, repeating every second or so, but then a whirring, spherical sound…

Another case of that time between waking and sleep – which we awkwardly also call waking – like the time I saw a golden sphere floating in the middle of the ski-hotel room. Turned out to be the little red standby LED on the telly surprising my sleepy eyes.

But back to yesterday's sound: it was roadworks. Not much else. And once it stopped, there was SILENCE!!! Even with the windows open! How thoroughly glorious! So much more difficult to find in London :(

Ah well, there are a million things in London that are more difficult to find over here too!

BBC WS Live from a Baloon!!

Right now on the World Today, a reporter is doing a LIVE two-way from a hot air balloon over Stratford on Avon. They've just had to put on the burner, and there's relaxing music in the background.

And maybe it's the gate that made it sound like the reporter vanished for a bit.

Root around www.bbcworldservice.com for the Listen Again

Really cool!!

ChineseVote.Org.Uk

Last night I came across this organisation: VoteChinese.Org.Uk. It's funded by the Electoral Commission, and encourages British Chinese to vote.
It's a very worthy cause, and it's good to see a project like this funded by the state. Cool!

Dunphy out of NewsTalk?

There are reports in the Irish papers and on Radiowaves forums that Eamonn Dunphy is leaving NewsTalk 106 before it's quasi-national launch.

I only listened a few times, but it seemed so terribly indulgent to him by the producer. Let him talk to his mates about something or other, so very unfocused. Talk of not getting to the point. Worse than me! And gifting listeners to the opposition – which in terms of morning news, is Morning Ireland. But it may be different in terms of the Dunphy demographic.

But NewsTalk are leaping to cancel out that gain, it seems, by maybe wanting Joe Duffy. So to hell with news, lets give teh country a phone, specific to one class in one city.

But he is a name, and names help commercial radio…

The papers report it thus:
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2006/06/21/story6478.asp
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1637707&issue_id=14237
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=186529436&p=y8653xy4z

News point of view

How balanced is this? Probably very balanced, I suppose. But how would you or I found out if the assumptions of this story were well founded?

And how would we know how different it is from the official police telling of events? And should it be?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/5098706.stm


"Peaceful start to summer solstice

Celebrations to mark the summer solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire have passed off peacefully with only four arrests.
Police estimate around 17,000 people watched the sun rise at 0458 BST on Wednesday despite cloudy conditions."

Exhibition coming up at Brunei Gallery

There's a new exhibition coming up SOAS's Brunei Gallery:
Face_WSLOT (Women See Lot Of Things)

From the official website: http://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/Face_WSLOT/home.html

Face_WSLOT is the first part of Face - the interdisciplinary societal art project by Meira Asher, bodylab art foundation.
Face_WSLOT consists of an art installation, CD-book publication, documentary film, and a Tertiary Education Support Initiative for Women in Sierra Leone (TESI-WSL).

The art installation explores and portrays the lives of three female ex-child combatants in post-war Sierra Leone and the psychophysical adjustments they undertake in order to come to terms with their experience are confronted.


The exhibition starts on July 13 and runs through the Summer.

I've never found the Gallery terribly welcoming for exhibitions, though there have been times I've really wanted to go.

However I'll try and make it to this one, when I'm back from my travels.

DRM Radios…

Just reading what I wrote over a year ago…

DRM radios still aren't out! But I believe them now when they say Autumn.

Time to start ramping up services.

I had a blog. Who knew?

So it turns out I set up a blog in my idle days.

I'll just make this entry to have something newish looking (ish) should anyone wish to investigate my comments on the all new London Huayu blog. http://londonhuayu.blogspot.com/

Don't bother with this age here, keep an eye on London Huayu!