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Different reactions to BBC Arabic
A couple of perspectives on the launch of BBC Arabic from different parts of the Middle East.The Gulfnews thinks the Beeb won’t have enough passion: Regional viewers are more accustomed to Al Jazeera’s confrontational style, which expertly raises emotions – a safe, measured BBC approach is probably unlikely to move the masses. BBC Arabic, for…
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Writing about TV – the pre-download era
Television commissioning. How hard can it be? Roll up, buy a series, put it on TV. That was before you could download the stuff. Writing about TV is more difficult. But here is Will Hutton conjuring up the pre-download era: Every British television executive would love to have commissioned the American series Mad Men. With…
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Nassim Taleb’s Black Swan – a Turkey
I have just finished Nassim Taleb’s Black Swan. What a crock. There is a lot wrong with Taleb’s book, not least the dismal neologism of the Black Swan. History is littered with less esoteric (i.e. banal) examples of Taleb’s restatements of the bleeding obvious – Montezuma’s reception of Cortes, anyone? Still, let’s ignore the hackneyed…
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When to keep your mouth shut
A tale to sour the lingenberries on your meatballs (yes, Scandinavian story coming up). From the Guardian News Blog: The Telegraph reports that academics in Denmark found the furniture chain [Ikea] was naming its cheaper products after Danish towns.