Shona Ghosh » News

Charles among the commoners

shonaghosh — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:50:22 +0000

Prince Charles has put away the Smythson and instead chosen to push his latest environmental message on YouTube, which seems to have become the new political equivalent of writing an open letter to the Times. Robin Williams, William n’ Harry, Daniel Craig and the Dalai Lama star among others in this plea to save the rainforests but, as the Times reports, the show is undoubtedly stolen by a certain amphibian extra.

T-mobile sing-off…with Pink

shonaghosh — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:10:07 +0000

Hundreds of people gathered to sing in Trafalgar Square today as part of T-Mobile’s latest advertisement.

Microphones were handed out to the crowd as compere Vernon Kay announced that the latest stunt would be a sing-along with audience participation.

Surprise guest Pink appeared in the midst of the audience as they sang Erma Franklin’s Piece of My Heart.

The crowd warmed up with Hey Jude, before working their way through Grease’s Summer Nights, Build Me Up Buttercup and Is This the Way to Amarillo. The stunt finished with a reprise of Hey Jude. The footage will be aired after 9pm on Saturday during an advert break for ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

Footage and images copyright Shona Ghosh. Oh alright, you can have it. But please ask/credit.

UPDATE: And here it is. Naaaaaaaaaa, na na, nanananaaaa…

Courtesy of T-Mobile.

T-Mobile dance…part deux

shonaghosh — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:57:47 +0000

Breaking news for you right here. T-Mobile will be filming another flash mob stunt (rumoured to be another dance) between 6-7pm tomorrow at Trafalgar Square, no doubt in the hope it will go viral. Can’t get any more specific than that because my dad deleted the text from T-Mobile before I got a good look at it. Yes, I will go and film it for you. Sheesh. The things I do.

UPDATE: Actually, after wading through the magnificent beaurospeak of the bye-laws I discover I can’t film without permission from Boris. Should’ve just asked when I met him really. I also spotted this little gem, to give you an idea of how much T-Mobile might be paying to pull this little stunt:

Anyone using Trafalgar Square must obtain Public Liability Insurance with a minimum of £5 million cover for each act or occurrence or series of acts or occurrences. A higher level of insurance cover may be required depending on the event content.

Ouch! Still, you can enjoy the first flash mob dance at Liverpool Street Station:

Video by T-Mobile.

Simon Amstell leaves Buzzcocks

shonaghosh — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:41:19 +0000

Comedian Simon Amstell announced in his newsletter last night that he will be stepping down from hosting BBC TV pop quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks to concentrate on his live work. Here’s the statement in full, sent at 10pm last night to fans signed up to his website

Hello.

I am Simon Amstell. Here is some news, should you be interested in this sort of thing. I will not be hosting another series of the fun pop quiz, ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’.

When I first took on the role of hosting ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’, my only hope was to bring joy and laughter to the world and if I was lucky, put an end to war, disease and poverty. Now that I have achieved that, I plan to concentrate on my live work.

Thank you.

Please now continue to enjoy your life as best you can.

Boris the turtle and me

shonaghosh — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:02:07 +0000

Press Association coverage of Boris Johnson adopting Boris the turtle at the London Aquarium. With monkey putting forth some hard-hitting questions, as always.

I will give a cookie to anyone who can spot the grammatical mistake in all three seconds of my ferocious grilling. Video by Shona Ghosh/PA.

Miliband’s banana republic

shonaghosh — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:47:54 +0000

I didn’t think diplomats had a sense of humour. Why else would they send this man to India?

And there David Miliband has received a battering from the press. Indians have been generally stymied by his behaviour, which has included spending a night in a mud hut to show, um, solidarity with ye peasants. Unlike ye peasants though, Miliband also got to visit luxury hotel the Taj. Really getting a feel for how the other three quarters live, eh David? Meanwhile the British press has delighted in resurrecting the banana incident to liken the hapless Foreign Secretary to Mr Bean in the wake of his ignorance on Kashmir in the Guardian:

Although I understand the current difficulties, resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms, and allow Pakistani authorities to focus more effectively on tackling the threat on their western borders.

It is simplistic to think that disputed territory is the entire impetus behind terrorist attacks, as the Times of India explains. If only jihad was as simple as peeling a banana, David.

CNN-IBN blogger Suhasini Haidar acidly exposes the hypocrisy of David Miliband’s advice that the Mumbai terrorists should be tried in Pakistan [as opposed to extradition to India] – despite Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s demands to the contrary:

[In 2007] the UK expelled Russian diplomats after Moscow’s refusal to extradite KGB officer Andrei Lugovoi, wanted for poisoning another former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in the UK. Miliband was at the forefront of demanding sanctions against Russia, even though legally, the Russian government held it was entitled to refuse under the1957 European Convention on Extradition.

Even senior government officials made an unprecedented comment on Miliband’s inexperience:

He’s a young man and I guess this is the way he thinks diplomacy is conducted.

Ouch! But even the most vicious pens can’t fully expose Miliband’s true naivety as well as his own blog. It starts badly, with a misspelling of Uttar Pradesh. It continues in the tone of an overexcited gap year student commissioned to write for a British red top. ‘ANGUISH’. It’s like reading Maddy coverage:

The Anguish of Mumbai

I think that many in Britain do not realise the scale and depth of Indian anguish over the Mumbai attacks. The Prime Minister came to India in December to show his solidarity and sympathy, and I will be at the the Taj Hotel tomorrow. But India has been struck to its core: its people want a hearing, and they want action from Pakistan against those involved. The anguish is doubled because of the efforts India has made to work with Pakistan. Those need to continue. The support by the Indian government for the Pakistani IMF loan is real leadership and real vision.

Onto Gaza, eh David?

NOTE: The BBC were faster than me and have done a round-up of Indian media coverage of Miliband’s visit. Less sarcastic though.

Punish downloaders, say UK film directors

shonaghosh — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:04:31 +0000

British film and TV producers, writers and directors have written to the Times to voice concerns that the creative industry is dying at the hands of illegal film downloaders.

The list includes prominent figures such as Kenneth Branagh, Sir Alan Parker, Ken Loach and Terry Jones among many others.

Their concerns are real enough. The added financial pressure of losing valuable advertising has driven state-owned broadcaster Channel 4 to the brink. Currently the UK Government is considering privatisation, a merge with BBC World Service or further public funding for the service.

Meanwhile, the fate of the British music industry officially hangs in the balance as it fails to adapt fast enough to a growing online userbase. The Irish music industry faces its 6th year of decline, with a drop of 16% in record sales.

Considering the patent need to embrace the digital market, the stance taken by Branagh and co is startling. The letter that appears in the Times is merely pages away from reports of Virgin’s new superfast broadband service. Its press hook? ‘Download a film in three minutes’.

The group has taken a similar position to many music labels early on in the digital debate, calling for

…the Government to show its support by ensuring that internet service providers play their part in tackling this huge problem.

The letter says creative industries are key contributors to the UK economy, and that illegal downloads threaten thousands of film-makers and their sponsors. Like the music industry, it has called for the government to crackdown on ISPs failing to take responsibilty for users’ download activities. The letter ends on a note of draconian menace:

[ISPs] have the power to make significant change and to prevent their infrastructure from being used on a wholesale scale for illegal activity. If they are not prepared to act responsibly, they should be compelled to do so.

Yes, never mind the backlash from consumers. Still, perhaps Branagh is simply expressing what his beloved Bard might have thought about the digital age:

Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice
To change true rules for odd inventions.

UK 23rd in Press Freedom Index

shonaghosh — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:11:43 +0000

The UK has come 23rd in the latest press freedom analysis from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ranking behind Jamaica, Costa Rica and New Zealand in a top 30 which otherwise chiefly consists of European democracies.

The report notes this dominance but adds that ‘leading democracies’ have become ‘destabilised’ and are slowly encroaching on press freedoms. It attributes the slide of France (35th), Spain (36th) and Italy (44th) to increasing political and mafia violence.

The US also ranks 36th, a significant improvement from last year’s place of 48th, but has received criticism for arresting journalists during the Democratic and Republican conventions. The index has sparked internal criticism, comparing unfavourably with the Euro-dominated top 30.

RSF reserves its most potent venom for the lowest ranking countries, North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea – the ‘unchanging hells’ of media and political oppression.

A little manipulation…

shonaghosh — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:42:14 +0000

Nothing major, but a little snippet that I found amusing. Newspaper website stats are becoming increasingly important as web users from the US and Asia rely on UK news websites for fast, accurate news. Telegraph.co.uk and Guardian.co.uk have upped the game in terms of multimedia content and usability, and there’s particular rivalry between the two.

Anyone reading today’s Telegraph will have noticed the smug little statement on p2’s News Bulletin:

TCUK’s global audience increased by 116 per cent in the 12 months to September this year, with the site outperforming Times Online, Mail Online and Guardian.co.uk

It’s accompanied by an equally smug bar graph putting Telegraph with its 116% unique user growth well ahead of the Times, Mail and Guardian (trailing a mere fourth at 45% user growth).

It’s not a lie, but there’s a sneaky avoidance tactic – the newspaper website still miles ahead of the competition is, according to Press Gazette….