Words Dept.: archive

I’ve just watched Andrew Gilligan on Channel 4′s Dispatches present a compelling story about a property developer who donated £5,000 to the Manchester Labour Party a few weeks before being chosen as preferred bidder for a casino in the city. None of the councillors involved declared an interest, although they were subsequently cleared of wrongdoing [...]

Witness the power of hype. This mystery trailer has echoes of Blair Witch Project and is causing similar ripples. It’s a film that doesn’t even have a title yet but is sending YouTube theorists into a frenzy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Project Slosho/Cloverfield/1-18-08 as it’s variously known, is produced by JJ Abrams of Lost fame – a [...]

It seems highly likely to me that Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile, is going to pull out of its sponsorship of professional cycling after the conclusion of this year’s Tour de France, in fear of the damage being done to its brand by an association with drugs. Doping is, as usual, turning into a major [...]

Since Friday, I seem to keep reading stuff about something called Parakey. I can’t quite figure out what it is other than some kind of operating system that “bridges the gap between information on the web and the desktop”. No mainstream news source I’ve so far come across (and admittedly I haven’t looked very hard) [...]

A millionaire who donated more than £8m to the Conservatives was suffering from “insane delusions”, according to his friends. Insert your own joke here. Guardian link.

In which the Sun offers Pete Doherty some of the most ill-considered financial advice of all time in an effort to “rescue” him from financial ruin. Sticks and stones won’t break his bones, but smoking could kill him. It doesn’t help his cashflow and Pete could save nearly £2,000 instantly by kicking the habit. Removal [...]

Jeremy Paxman has provoked a veritable explosion of mild outrage in the papers after daring to question the age-old tradition that blokes with grey hair must always wear a tie while at work. His Newsnight blog suggests ties are now the preserve of “dodgy estate agents” (nothing like a 1980s stereotype to start the day), [...]

I fear Doctor Who is running out of steam a bit. What other excuse can there be for two BBC press releases on two consecutive days revealing “celebrity” involvement in forthcoming episodes? Yesterday it was Kylie, today it’s Catherine Tate. (Cue excessive coverage on the main BBC TV and radio news bulletins… and not much [...]