Celebrity Mastermind
Specialist subject: Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Tag Archives: politics
Do They Mean Us? A lecture at the Three Faiths Forum about journalism
This is posted with kind permission of the Three Faiths Forum. (Links to video clips of my speech are on their website.) I spent much of February 28th at the National Liberal Club just off Embankment in London today — my … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, journalism, Media, Politics, Religion, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 80s, culture, Derek Jameson, journalism, media, politics, tv
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The Guinea Pig — experiments in schooling deprived teenagers
Looking at all the wistful posters for the new TV series, Jamie’s Dream School immediately made me think of the Boulting Brothers’ fascinating film sixty three year- old film The Guinea Pig — also for popular entertainment — about an … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Education, Film, Politics, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 40s, Boulting Brothers, cinema, culture, elitism, film, FTW, grammar schools, politics, Richard Attenborough, tv
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If Homer Simpson were Muslim…
Have been re-reading Jeremiah in the Old Testament and watching Peter Kosminsky’s bold The Promise drama, I thought it worth revisiting something a little more light hearted — my exclusive feature on the making of The Infidel. As writer David … Continue reading
The Girl From The Black Country: An interview with Julie Walters
UPDATE May 19th 2014: Julie Walters was awarded the 2014 BAFTA fellowship last night for her lifetime achievement in acting. In the interview I did with her in 2011 she spoke with real passion about her fear for whether a … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Culture, Education, Film, Politics, Theatre, TV
Tagged 60s, 70s, 80s, babyboomer, billy liar, cinema, culture, elitism, everyman theatre, film, FTW, julie walters, kitchen sink drama, liverpool, malcolm x, michael caine, politics, smethwick, suffragettes, tom courtenay
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Michael Gove on educational elitism — a flashback to Oxford 1988
Hearing the attacks for alleged “elitism” made on Education Secretary Michael Gove’s plans to make the National Curriculum of English state schools more academically rigorous, I remembered something he wrote about that very subject 23 years ago, in January … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Education, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged 80s, elitism, gove, oxford, politics, universities
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From Ealing to Four Lions: How to fund a great British film.
BAFTA Nominations were out today. When I remarked on Twitter yesterday that the Golden Globe winning, now much BAFTA nominated, Oscar hopeful The King’s Speech had been funded via the scrapped UK Film Council I was flagging up the difficulty … Continue reading
Posted in Business/Economics, Culture, Film, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, 80s, bfi, cinema, culture, eady levy, four lions, islamist, politics, terrorism, uk film council
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When I Lived In Groovy Times – an interview with the Novelist Linda Grant
I spent a fascinating afternoon with award winning British writer, Linda Grant, this week, discussing her timely new novel, We Had It So Good, (published January 20th 2010) about the babyboomer generation and going through photos she’d dug out for my news cameras, to help analyse … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged babyboomer, books, culture, linda grant, literature, politics, publishing
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Putting a value on the cost of Bookgifting
Government backtracks on funding for Book Trust Monday 27 December 2010 As the Book Trust charity confirms the government will now help the book gifting programme continue in England, Samira Ahmed reflects on how to put a cost on the … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Business/Economics, Children, Culture, Media, Politics
Tagged Book Trust, books, culture, literature, politics, publishing
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