Apparently US Chief Justice William Rehnquist is a Gilbert and Sullivan fan. So much so, indeed, that five years ago he added five gold bars to his black robes, in imitation of the Lord High Chancellor’s costume in Iolanthe. (via New Republic)
Author: Anthony
Not just a PR war
I can’t agree with Will Davies’s take on the PR effort around today’s attacks. He’s right that the Government has become much more aware of the PR aspect of terrorism, and that there has been a lot of expectation management over the last few years.
However, he closes with:
Government is effectively reneging on its responsibility to keep us actually safe, and [has] retreated to a responsibility to respond efficiently when the enemy does strike?
which is surely wrong.
The Government has been playing a good PR game, but that’s not to say it hasn’t been working behind the scenes to prevent attacks. There has been some public action: the anti-terror laws and arrests around the country, for all they were controversial.
Anti-terror activities are never going to be telegraphed across the front of the papers. I don’t hold a particular brief for the Government, but its getting a clue on managing reactions doesn’t mean it’s losing its grip elsewhere.
Bad, but not new
Salon’s War Room says:
Londoners […] are suddenly feeling the kind of shock and vulnerability that the residents of New York and Madrid know all too well.
Well, up to a point. I’m certainly not feeling some completely new and terrifying vulnerability, like New Yorkers seem to have after September 11th. As people have been saying on the news, we survived the IRA, we can survive this. The Guardian
has a list of terrorist attacks on the UK mainland.
Thank god for government
Paul Skidmore from Demos points out the benefits of hierarchy and Government at times like this.
Not the way forward
The handling of the London bombings so far seems to be admirable. Truly disgusting, however, are some of the comments on Free Republic. I knew it was a right-wing site, I didn’t appreciate how much.
Wealden gardens in the NYT
The eminent journalist R. W. Apple Jr. writes in the New York Times about the gardens of the Weald, my neck of the woods.
Rage-inducing PR spin of the nanosecond
On a cash machine outside Tunbridge Wells station:
Alliance & Leicester customers will not be charged to use this cash machine. Other users will be charged a convenience fee.
CONVENIENCE FEE! ARGH!
Alliance and Leicester – taking your hard-earned money, for your convenience.
Impactful
Deep Impact hit comet Tempel-1 today, with good results and a huge plume of debris, brightening the comet by a factor of 11. One excited scientist quoted by the Register said:
“We’ll really be able to constrain our models with the new data.”
Yeah, baby! I shouldn’t be sarcastic. It sounds dull – but it may actually be quite exciting.
Jackanory returns
In a piece of excellent news, Jackanory – the children’s programme where people read stories – is returning to TV. It’s such a simple format, but so effective. Almost Reithian in theory, I remember it from my childhood as a fun, involving programme. Long may it continue!
Spain Legalizes Gay Marriage; Law Is Among the Most Liberal – New York Times
It’s going to be really interesting to see how this turns out.