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Confidential informants in Northern Ireland
I had the good luck to meet Colonel Richard Iron a couple of months ago. He was the kind of typically self-effacing British Army officer who one underestimates at ones peril. Iron currently commands the UK Army’s Doctrine Branch in the Directorate of Land Warfare. His philosophy is summed in something he told the Telegraph…
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Adding up on the NBC Nightly News
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.”
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Message to dying newspapers: localities are NOT communities
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…
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Google News: ads please, but don’t ask for payment for news stories as refusal often offends
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.)