adrian monck

Month: January 2008

  • Alpine blogging hiatus

    I am off to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. I’ve never been before, and I admit that the idea of holding a conference in a ski resort where nobody comes to ski for a week is a little crazy. But, I’m a lousy skier. By way of apology, blogging will be light…

  • The worst journalistic outrage ever?

    I have just been re-reading Edward Behr’s memoir of life in journalism. Its account of the war in Algeria has this numbing tale of journalistic behaviour, which must rank as one of the gravest professional outrages ever committed: …for sheer callousness, it was difficult to beat the French freelance photographer, with excellent OAS connections, who…

  • My tiny part in Charlie Wilson’s War

    And I mean barely discernible. Towards the end of Charlie Wilson’s War, Texan congressman Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) having helped finance the covert war in Afghanistan looks up at a TV screen and sees Dan Rather introduce a piece that begins with the final column of Red Army tanks crossing the Friendship bridge back…

  • Democracy and the BBC: more preached than practised

    One of my favourite quotes on democracy (disowned by its originator alas), comes from British educator Derry Hannam: Learning about democracy and citizenship in school is a bit like reading holiday brochures in prison. Why do I trawl that quote up? Well, BBC Director-General Mark Thompson, in an interesting and wide-ranging speech addressing the trust…