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A striking image to mark play-off defeat

watfordob2

 

I picked up this newspaper while staying with relatives in Hertfordshire at the weekend. It’s the Watford Observer, covering on the front, as you might expect, the Play Off Final which saw Crystal Palace pip the Hornets to the Premier League in extra time.

I’ve posted it here because it struck me as being a really clever image – clearly one of the ones which sets the tone for the headline as well. And a nice change from the close up of a weeping fan.

And seeing the local MP paying for a front-page ad to promote a public meeting was a nice thing to see, too.

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Tweet the week: Five interesting tweets to kick off the week for journalists

1. Social media – the military way. Can loose tweets sink ships?

2. Free books about journalism: Great guide from Paul Bradshaw

3. Data visualisation … of every geo-tagged Tweet:

4. Has the internet killed photojournalism?

5. So getting on the Buzzfeed bandwagon isn’t so easy after all

 

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Tweet the Week: Five interesting Tweets to kick off the week for journalists

1. Same brand, different place: An inspiring look at where newspapers are going:

2. A brilliant tribute to a mentor

3. Twitter as a news organisation?

4. Why there should be more to online advertising than just click-through rate:

5. Are we doing local government staff an injustice through stereotypes?

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10 great stand up comedians you might never of heard of – but really should look out for (with video)

Everyone likes a laugh, right? The only problem is that the laughs – as far as TV is concerned – tend to come from too few comedians.

It’s not that they’re unfunny – some of the are, most aren’t – but for every big name comedian who appears to be on a narrow roster picked up for various mainstream TV show – there are 100 equally funny folk heading up and down the nation’s motorways performing at the country’s many comedy clubs.

When not working or raising a 20-month-old, or not too tired from both (so, not as often I would like), I try to get out to comedy clubs. Until maybe two years ago, I didn’t go to comedy clubs regularly – instead opting for the big-name arena gigs. John Bishop (MEN Arena as was) and Russell Howard (ECHO Arena as is) are both brilliant on such stages. I stopped, however, when I saw Peter Kay on his Tour That Doesn’t Tour in Manchester. It works brilliantly on TV but isn’t half as funny when you’re in the audience, watching a routine polished to perfection thanks to 50 previous outings in the same building. Not to mention the fact that Kay seemed to be laughing at, rather than with, the audience too much. But that’s just a personal view.

So I’ve taken the advice of a friend and sought out comedy clubs instead. I’ve still seen some well-known names, such as Rhod Gilbert (Salford Lowry), Tom Stade (Blackburn King George’s Hall) and Josh Widdicombe (Salford Lowry Studio), and also stumbled across rising stars by chance at comedy clubs, like the brilliant Nathan Caton, and perhaps my favourite comedian of the lot, Justin Moorhouse.

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Making elections local again: The national politician with sound advice for all

bigbenIn the hours which followed the recent local elections, the pattern of the political responses was typical.

Labour tried to hype up its addition of 290 seats, claiming it was down to a dis-satisfied public fed up with the state of the economy. However, another reading of that would be to point out if the public are fed up with the economy (and why wouldn’t they be), they aren’t turning to Labour in the sorts of numbers it can use to say it has convinced the public it has an alternative.

Oh, Labour reply, you’re being unfair – these elections were mainly in Tory heartlands, so we were never going to do *that* well.

The Tories, having been expected to do much worse than the 335 seats, and 10 councils they lost control of, pointed to Labour’s unspectacular performance, but also dashed to promise those who voted UKIP that it would listen to their protest vote. But how can they be sure of what people were protesting about? Two people I know voted UKIP to protest at the level of VAT in this country – I’m not entirely convinced that particular protest will register.

And then UKIP. No denying they performed very well, and depending on which interview involving Nigel Farage you listened to, you’ll get a different view on why they did so well. It’s because the Tories insulted his party. It’s because people are fed up of the political classes. It’s because the main parties have no connection with reality. It’s because of Europe. It’s became of the economy. And so on and so on.

Finally, the Lib Dems. Down 124 councillors – 24% – not great, but not the wipeout predicted. And it’s from the much-maligned party in yellow that I think the most sensible assessment of the local elections emerged.

This is the party which came seventh in the parliamentary by-election in South Shields. You can argue that particular aspect of the result many ways: What impact did the independent candidate have? Did Lib Dem voters stay away? Who went to UKIP? But Tim Farron, the Lib Dem Party president, delivered perhaps the most salient piece of political advice I’ve heard in a long time.

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Tweet the week: Five interesting tweets to kick off the week

1. Turning a challenge into a daily documentary (this is really nice)

2. Useful tools for journalists klaxon

3. A better use for council cash currently spent on council newspapers

4. Open data doesn’t seem to apply to HS2

5. Why new outlets for journalism can be harder to find than you think:

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The three parts required for the whole story (infographic)

datafoiThis morning on Five Live Investigates – arguably one of the most under-rated shows dedicated to investigative journalism around – I had a bit of an epiphany.  The result of that epiphany is the infographic I’ve tried to create above (click on it to see a larger version).

On today’s show, presenter Adrian Goldberg covered the issue of ambulance response times. Now the rules around ambulance response times are common knowledge in newsrooms: You have Category A calls, the most life-threatening, which should see a paramedic with you within 8 minutes (the target is that 75% of such calls should have a response within eight minutes). Continue reading →