Democracy and the media go together like…

Ditchley ParkLike Jeff Jar­vis, Charlie Beck­ett, and Richard Sam­brook, I too was at Ditch­ley recently for a con­fer­ence on the media and demo­cracy. Present com­pany excep­ted, it brought together a fas­cin­at­ing and lively group of people (not always the case at conferences).

Sir Jeremy Green­stock, formerly Britain’s man at the UN and in Iraq (and someone who speaks in per­fect para­graphs), gives his impres­sions below (bold, ital­ics, and broken paras are me).

For the record, I’m more pess­im­istic about demo­cracy than about journ­al­ism — but I also think Google — the acci­dental mono­pol­ist — should step up to the plate and fund some inde­pend­ent con­tent resource (listen — that’s the sound of me not hold­ing my breath). Con­tinue read­ing

How to engineer an Anglo-Russian rapprochement

Arrange a meet­ing at a sum­mit. Prior to the meet­ing, ensure gov­ern­ment offi­cials drop reas­sur­ing hints about the need to improve relations:

Rus­sia now poses its biggest threat to Bri­tain since the Cold War, accord­ing to secur­ity sources. MI5 fears that Bri­tain has been swamped with spies since the break­down of rela­tions over the tit-for-tat accus­a­tions over the pois­on­ing of former KGB officer Alex­an­der Litv­inenko. [Tele­graph]

Con­tinue read­ing