A reader writes: Tonight, 26 February 2009, Brian Williams reported on NBC Nightly News that GM had lost $30.9 billion for the year of 2008, and that to give viewers an idea of what that means, it works out to burning “$1,000 a minute.”

A very long time ago, when I had just moved to London and was still rather excited by the fact that I was worldly, hip and liberal, I asked a gay friend (who was originally from Northern Ireland) what the “scene” was like in Belfast. He gave me the withering look my question deserved, and…

Remember Peter Osnos? He was gunned down for suggesting that Google be asked to pay for news content. (To me a least, an argument roughly akin to beating on Ida Tarbell for suggesting that Standard Oil be broken up.)

Amid all this talk of suspicions about Allen Stanford and his method of business – many people might be asking themselves, who knew? Where was the media all this time? Let’s whistle back through the archives ten years…