England Prevails

London Fields # 98
First published Inpress (Issue # 1200), Melbourne on 16 November 2011, and in Drum Media (Issue # 1086), Sydney on 15 November 2011
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here

Recent events made the scheduling of the film adaptation of V For Vendetta on the evening of 5th November feel like a quiet political statement by state broadcaster BBC Two The film was originally due to have its UK release on the eve of the 400^th anniversary of the foiling of The Gunpowder Plot, yet in the period since 2005 the stylised Guy Fawkes mask worn by the central character of V has become a common sight at protests, from student marches to the current Occupy London camp in the grounds of St Paul’s Cathedral. While the film may differ from Alan Moore’s original vision, the picture of an isolated nation in crisis, presided over by an authoritarian government, with the people as that 99% rang some bells. There was another protest by students against fees and cuts in central London last Wednesday, but this passed without serious incident. The number of marchers was much reduced, perhaps dissuaded by the advance police warning that baton rounds (rubber bullets) could be employed if any trouble erupted; those that went were met by 4000 police officers. This week has also seen a furore over the reported relaxation of the border controls over the summer months - sackings and resignations are sure to follow. Behind the wheels of government, following changes to the Act of Settlement 1701 at the recent CHOGM in Perth, royal heirs will soon have equal rights to the throne regardless of gender, and be able to marry a Roman Catholic. Meanwhile the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (which received the Royal Assent on 15 September 2011) removed the Royal Prerogative which allowed the monarch to dissolve parliament, so there won’t be any Remembrance Day 1975s here.

Guy Fawkes Night traditionally means bonfires and fireworks but it’s been a few years now since I’ve heard anyone asking for “a penny for the Guy”. These days it’s more commonly referred to Bonfire Night and cross-pollinated with Halloween, but Southwark Council got into all kinds of hoo-hah when they attempted to re-brand their event as The Colour Thief: A Winter Extravaganza Celebrating the Change of the Seasons. One place where the old traditions hold true is in Lewes in East Sussex where for 200 years they have marked the prevention of the Gunpowder Plot and remembered the Marian Martyrs burned in the town in the mid 16^th century. Last year they blew up an effigy of the Pope as part of the celebrations, but this year there were bigger villains to pillory. The Waterloo parade featured an effigy of Rupert Murdoch as a dragon being ridden by Rebekah Brooks which was later sacrificed to the flames

The clocks may have gone back at the end of October, but temperatures are still in double figures and the leaves only just falling from trees en masse, meaning autumn’s arrived very late this year. The mild days bright have made the return to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) harsher than ever; suddenly it’s dark before 4.30pm and by the solstice it will be pitch black before 4pm. For years there have discussions about changing the UK time zone, but a Private Members Bill tabled by MP Rebecca Harris may actually make this possible. This Thursday the money resolution of her Daylight Saving Bill 2010-11 will be debated in the House of Commons. If agreed, it will lead to a three year trial, yet it hinges on getting agreement from Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly. The change would mean England was on GMT+1 (aka CET) in winter and Central European Summer Time (GMT+2) in summer. It would result in the carbon savings on lighting, a reduction in the road toll (as drivers are more tired in the evenings), and a boost for tourism. Additionally, the latest findings show it would also help to curb childhood obesity as light is a key factor on decisions to play outside. Despite this, The Mail On Sunday is insisting a move to what they call “Berlin Time” would be a disaster, particularly for Scotland where sunrise would be very late. But surely it has to be good for businesses to synchronise with Europe (even if the economies are in crisis)? The solution would be for Scotland to keep its current time zone. That said it would be strange to think that nowhere in England would ever be on Greenwich Mean Time again, even in Greenwich. Maybe if all this comes to pass, GMT will end up nicknamed “Glasgow Mean Time”?

© James McGalliard 2011

Inpress: Published on page 56
Drum: Published on page 54

News Of The World

London Fields # 94
First published Inpress (Issue # 1184), Melbourne on 27 July 2011, and in Drum Media (Issue # 1070), Sydney on 26 July 2011
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here

A Sunday morning stroll through the News Of The World’s website to see what celebrity muck had been freshly raked used to seem like a bit of fun. Many of the stories were seemingly so ludicrous that they were amusing, and it could be done with a clear conscience didn’t involve actually buying the rag. But the fairly ambivalent attitude of the British public to the phone hacking saga changed dramatically about three weeks ago when it was revealed that News Of The World had not only hacked into the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, but had deleted messages as well, leading relatives believe that the then only missing family member was perhaps still alive. Targeting those who had at some point actively sought the limelight didn’t seem so bad, but this was another thing entirely. As Billy Bragg sings in his new song Never Buy The Sun: “the means justify the ends because we only hunt celebrities and it's all a bit of fun”.. But this reprehensible act shocked a nation and (contrary to what I read in a piece in The Australian) quickly became a hot topic of conversation across all classes and beliefs.

As this saga unfolded I kept recalling the central motif of HBO’s Game Of Thrones: "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground." For decades newspapers have played at king making - Murdoch papers supported Labour Party in the elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005, and then at the last election reverted to their formal loyalties to stand firmly behind David Cameron and the Conservative Party. So perhaps it’s not unexpected that Ed Miliband, the current leader of the British Labour Party, has seemed to finally gain some teeth when discussing this issue. While it seems this present government is determined to substantially weaken the BBC, some papers have tried to claim that the whole Hackgate sage was a beat-up of a private leftist cabal between The Guardian and the BBC, with a Daily Mail headline asking “why won't he [Miliband] tackle the REAL threat to our way of life - the BBC” in response.

While attention was focussed on this, there wasn’t much room for other stories. So the announcement that the NHS, which we’re continually reassured isn’t going to be privatised, will have £1billion of services opened up to private competition passed almost unmarked, as did Education Secretary Michael Gove’s report to the Commons that the rebuilding project for 58 schools which he axed would remain scrapped (despite the opinions of the High Court). Meanwhile on television late night current affairs show Newsnight saw a surge in rating as day-by-day new revelations came to light, and hosted great live interviews such as one where Steve Coogan eviscerated a NotW journo. Over on Question Time, another celebrity who had found himself the subject of tabloid stories fought back, with Hugh Grant proving himself mightily impressive.

The shining knight in this whole sorry affair has been the pioneering and persistent investigative work by The Guardian that has brought this into the light. Yet its continued future is a cause of concern. Although The Guardian has the second largest online readership of any English language paper in the world, there is no paywall (Comment Is Free) but last month it revealed an annual loss of £33 million and stated that the Guardian Media Group could run out of cash within five years “if the business operations did not change”.

This weekend showed nothing much had really changed. While that the closure of the News Of The World may have put some people out of work and adversely affected newsagents Sunday takings, the act has done relatively little to address serious issues in certain sections of the Fourth Estate. One tabloid led with what was apparently Amy Winehouse’s final drug deal, while others were happy to quote the story and show photos of the late singer’s blanket covered corpse being removed from her home. While in (Murdoch owned) The Times last Friday cartoonist Peter Brookes depicted three staving Africans, one of whom opined “I’ve had a bellyful of phone-hacking”. But perhaps the most telling comment on the whole affair was automatically generated by a machine. When I tried to access the NotW website from my work PC, I found it had been blocked by my employer. The reason given was that it was “categorized as: Tasteless & Offensive”.

© James McGalliard 2011

Inpress: Published on page 57
Drum: Published on page 60