Hard News: London's Burning
445 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 … 6 7 8 9 10 … 18 Newer→ Last
-
giovanni tiso, in reply to
I'm continuing to find good reporting much more compelling than any amount of hand-wringing analysis.
Duh. And I find good analysis better than bad reporting, so I guess we're even? But I think it's pretty obvious that we need the good kind of both.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Duh. And I find good analysis better than bad reporting, so I guess we’re even? But I think it’s pretty obvious that we need the good kind of both.
Yeah, true. But that Addley story was so good because it actually conveyed what the people in those neighbourhoods had to say, rather than having it said for them.
-
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
I’m continuing to find good reporting much more compelling than any amount of hand-wringing analysis.
Quite – and it’s good reporting that make a solid foundation for analysis that isn’t just pure wank or the author’s pet political barrow being taken out for a Sunday drive.
It seems that insurance should cover a good deal of it, but it’s going to take these people a while to get back in business.
There are PASers who know the lie of the land better than I, but can’t help but wonder how many of these artists and small labels just won’t be able to get back on their feet even if they’re fully insured. Hope I’ve totally misread things.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
There are PASers who know the lie of the land better than I, but can’t help but wonder how many of these artists and small labels just won’t be able to get back on their feet even if they’re fully insured. Hope I’ve totally misread things.
Martin Mills' Beggar's Group has sustained the biggest total loss, but is well insured and in a better position to recover than most. Smaller labels and individual artists -- like the Phoenix Foundation -- will find it harder.
-
Lilith __, in reply to
that Addley story was so good
+1
Thanks everybody for your comments and links. Once again, when I don't understand what's going on, I come to Public Address and things begin to make sense!
-
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Smaller labels and individual artists – like the Phoenix Foundation – will find it harder.
And they're the very people who didn't have "product" go up in flames, but their passion and commitment. Even if you're not a big fan of the music, you've got to respect people who do the hard yards to build something they love and it's just soul-sucking to see it so casually destroyed.
-
giovanni tiso, in reply to
But that Addley story was so good because it actually conveyed what the people in those neighbourhoods had to say, rather than having it said for them.
Proving once again that people can be eloquent and lucid in stressful circumstances - it's just that shoving a microphone in their faces in front of a camera is not the best way to bring it out.
-
Hope it isn't crass to ask this, but do record companies and the like insure media for manufacturing or resale cost?
(I've always been a bit concerned about my books, which are probably not insurable at full replacement cost, or indeed replaceable).
-
And just to illustrate what a very large family I have, I had completely forgotten about my other niece who lives in London. To be fair, I do have 16 nieces and nephews, so ya know, sometimes you forget that some exist.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Quite – and it’s good reporting that make a solid foundation for analysis that isn’t just pure wank or the author’s pet political barrow being taken out for a Sunday drive.
Thought about it while I was riding my bike, and feel that I should say I've appreciated informed analysis. Two of the earlier pieces in The Guardian, by Nina Power and Stafford Scott both brought facts to the party.
That wasn't the case with Tariq Ali or the grand columnists of the Tory papers -- let alone their overtly racist commenters, who appearsto have been unable to perceive a white face in the mobs.
-
Just tweeted this, but what the heck:
Count the Tory columnists invoking "society". Remember Thatcher declaring there was "no such thing". Contemplate.
-
If we're talking analysis, here's Zoe Williams from the Guardian, and Michael McCarthy in the Independent.
I'd take issue with some of the examples in the Indie article: for a population that was/is supposedly 'not an aggressive or violent people', and 'not naturally good at fighting', it strikes me as rather odd that Britain had an awfully big empire at one point.
However, the general vibe and conclusion resonates.
ETA: I'd also note that you'd have been a fool to venture out into some of the murkier areas of Victorian London without a cudgel, pistol and bodyguard. The mores and manners of Victorian England have been rather glossed over in recent times.
-
giovanni tiso, in reply to
That wasn’t the case with Tariq Ali
Is it ever?
-
3410,
@C., G.,
Whatevs. I saw it more as a warning (perhaps even - if you wanted to go there - a call for the country to seriously right its moral compass, with haste), rather than an actual unfair representation of reality. See title.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
The mores and manners of Victorian England have been rather glossed over in recent times.
Oh, and before and since. The British are an unruly people :-)
Anyway, The Guardian is quoting a report saying the victim in the mugging video is a 20 year-old Malaysian student who was heading out for food to break his Ramadan fast. The thug was white and British.
It would be nice if some of the racists flooding the boards at the Telegraph and the Mail could try and process that.
-
Islander, in reply to
I’ve always been a bit concerned about my books, which are probably not insurable at full replacement cost, or indeed replaceable
In my experience, they're
a)not insurable at replacement value. I was told most of my books could be insured
for their *secondhand* value - but I'd have to get 'a recognised expert' to ascertain that first, and make a full listing of the books to be so insured.
There's roughly 20,000 or so...
b)If you have unique items (historical provenance, autographs/inscriptions, mss)
take good care of 'em because they're not insurable in a private home at all. I cant insure a Booker Prize, but a university library exhibiting same would be able to insure it for the duration of the public exhibition.Sorry, a bit OT-
-
Lilith __, in reply to
I cant insure a Booker Prize
That’s crappy.
have you heard the wonderful story of how some Nobel prize winners in Denmark dissolved their medals in strong acid during WWII to hide them from the invading Germans? After the war the gold was recovered and the Nobel Institute re-forged the medals. Truly! (last paragraph on the page)
-
Kumara Republic, in reply to
While the rioters have a right to be pissed off, their anger is horribly uncoordinated, kind of like that of the Tea Party. It seems poverty, wealth, and money per se aren't the root of all evil - materialism is.
I read an essay written not long after Hurricane Katrina - I forgot who wrote it - which said that African bushmen in a certain African nation, despite their relative poverty, were happy with their lot because materialism meant nothing to them.
-
-
Simon Grigg, in reply to
Smaller labels and individual artists -- like the Phoenix Foundation -- will find it harder.
This could be the death blow for many smaller indies who simply don't have the cashflow or reserves to cover it. Insurance may or may not cover it, but that's not really the point as many of these labels are literally hand to mouth and utterly dependent on the immediate buzz that an artist will have generated to get them to the next release.
The multiple collapses of indie distributors over the years have each time taken down a raft of associated small labels, sadly this may be the same.
-
Rich Lock, in reply to
The mores and manners of Victorian England have been rather glossed over in recent times.
Oh, and before and since.
Yes. But Victorian Britain was specifically mentioned in the article (and almost inevitably crops up in these sort of analyses when an example is needed).
It does make me wonder how much the modern urban UK city environment feeds into this. Upmarket areas in London are cheek-by-jowl with some pretty run-down estates, and even if they're not, the number of relatively good transport links makes it easy to move a long distance pretty quickly.
-
Interesting article on hoodies, as in the garment.
I don’t think they’ve ever had this rep in NZ. Teachers and coders wear them to work, and so on.
Maybe it’s because we don’t have much CCTV, and thus not the need to hide from the cameras, so keeping your head warm isn’t seen as an aggressive act.
-
Islander, in reply to
Yes! And what a marvellous example of creative thinking (and a hope in a better future...)
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Interesting article on hoodies, as in the garment.
I don’t think they’ve ever had this rep in NZ. Teachers and coders wear them to work, and so on.
Au contraire. You have clearly forgotten the idiotic "controversy" over Hoodie day ...
The highlight of this year's Youth Week is Hoodie Day on Friday but NZ First MP Ron Mark says it is sending the wrong message.
It was intended to reverse negative attitudes and smooth the animosity over hooded tops.
But Hoodie Day ended in a spat of its own when National Party MPs boycotted it, claiming it had been hijacked by Labour.
And most bizarrely, here:
A resident on the Kapiti Coast is defending his decision to turn up to a local council meeting dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.
Local community board member Dale Evans says he wore the costume to yesterday's meeting to protest against National Hoodie Day today ... Mr Evans says hoodies are not an appropriate article of clothing to celebrate.
He believes that young people wear them for the wrong reasons and problems arise when police are unable to identify who is beneath the hood on security tapes.
I was surprised at the time how many apparently rational people seemed to think certain items of clothing were evil.
-
Marcus Turner, in reply to
Plus ça change. It used to be long hair.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.