BCB Movietime – Aug 29, 2013

John Otway and Wild Willie Barrett’s 1977 single, Really Free, ushers in this programme of news and views from the big screen, because John Otway, the movie, who describes himself as “rock & roll’s greatest failure” is getting a limited cinema release. I’m Karl Dallas, and I have a fondness for Otway and Wild Willie’s … Continue reading →

Israel to spend half a million pounds to form covert hasbara units

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office is planning to form, in collaboration with the National Union of Israeli Students, “covert units” within Israel’s seven universities that will engage in online public diplomacy (hasbara). The students participating in the project, who would post on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter on Israel’s behalf, will be … Continue reading →

Police harassment is nothing new

Having been subjected to police surveillance for over 50 years, both in UK and abroad, I can sympathise with the 9-hour ordeal of David Miranda’s questioning by security police over alleged terrorism links. From my own experience, such experiences have nothing to do with security: they are harassment, pure and simple. As a teenage campaigner … Continue reading →

BCB Swing Easy: The Classical Stan Kenton

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Aug 18: Roger Waters – to my colleagues in rock and roll

“To cut to the chase, Israel has been found guilty, independently, by international human rights organizations, UN officials, and the International Court of Justice, of serious breaches of international law. These include the crime of Apartheid…” 18th August 2013 Warsaw To My Colleagues in Rock and Roll Nigel Kennedy the virtuoso British violinist and violist, at … Continue reading →

Coming on Bank Holiday Monday, 10pm BBC Radio 2

Darkside, a radio play by Sir Tom Stoppard, inspired by Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of the Moon. Here’s a special visual trailer, made by Aardman Animations of Wallace and Gromit fame, previewing Radio 2’s Darkside drama, which you can hear on Bank Holiday Monday, August 26, at 10pm BST. Celebrating 40 years of Pink Floyd’s … Continue reading →

Staff risk being exploited by firms over zero-hour contracts (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Workers who feel badly treated under controversial zero hour contracts have little recompense against unscrupulous employers who abuse the system, according to a leading Bradford employment lawyer. Elizabeth Henry, partner and head of employment law at Bradford-based legal firm Last Cawthra Feather, says there has been a surge of local companies using zero hour contracts, … Continue reading →

August 19: Church of England should not endorse fracking

The Church of England’s intervention into the debate about fracking (or hydraulic fracturing) is wrong-headed, ill-informed, and in direct contravention of the Biblical injunction to be stewards of the environment (Genesis 1: 28). And it is to be welcomed. Coupled with Archbishop Welby’s welcome attempts to stop Britain being turned into a financial Wonga-Wonga land, … Continue reading →

Israel dictates US policy on Egyptian military aid

According to the New York Times, “When Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, proposed an amendment halting military aid to Egypt, the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee sent a letter to senators on July 31 opposing it, saying it “could increase instability in Egypt and undermine important U.S. interests and negatively impact our Israeli … Continue reading →

Gmail wasn’t broke . . .

. . . so why did you “fix” it, Google? I’ve used gmail since the days when it was called Google Mail, and you needed a special invitation to join. Apart from a time when a brief but catastrophic lapse of attention on my part allowed my system to be hijacked, so I was locked … Continue reading →