Blog from Britain

Che Guevara fashion victims

2007-10-13T20:30:00.000Z

This week marked the 40th year since the CIA’s assassination of “Che” Guevara and it was baffling to see how so many mourned the end of this chauvinistic, torturing, evil and relentless maniac.

He was Fidel Castro’s right-hand man and championed the communist cause while crushing the dissidents that lay in his midst. Today, he’s almost worshipped as some kind of celebral icon.

But how did Che Guevara become so ‘fashionable’? It’s strangely common to see young and impressionable types sporting Che Guevara t-shirts -– blissfully unaware how lucky they are to be a victim of fashion instead of Guevara himself. To me, wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt is like wearing a t-shirt with Hitler’s imprint on it, or Stalin’s for that matter....

I wonder how many people who wear his merchandise actually realise who this maniac actually was, what he did, and how much better the world is without him.

Dubya for a giggle

2007-10-12T21:52:00.000Z

Whether you've had a bad day at the office or feel like you've sunk to your lowest ebb in life then, rather than God, I recommend turning to George Bush...on Youtube. Not a suggestion you hear everyday, I can understand that, but his embarrassing lack of eloquence, is after all, frightfully entertaining and never fails to make me laugh. He's clearly in the wrong profession...

Check out the movie clip below:

...God help America.

My Gord, he hasn't...has he?

2007-10-07T22:07:00.000Z

So while Gorgon Brown's 'Shock and Bore' speeches never fail to make a five course feast out of stealing Tory tactics, I was curious by the incumbent Prime Minister's decision not to hold an election after all. I was rather looking forward to voting otherwise.

Blue ties, stolen Tory policies and union conference speeches made up by the very American spin-doctors who wrote Clinton's addresses to the American people - are the British, or rather, New Labour-voting majority really getting what they voted for?

For the traditional Labour voters, you must be joking. But regardless of my political leaning, I’m not laughing! Gordon Brown may have succeed in toning down Blair's legacy but old habits die hard and spin and borrowed policies have wet his appetite for the long-haul.

That said, we no longer have a ‘left wing’ party in Britain. It would appear that New Labour, despite giving the impression of being all frightfully 'modern' and ‘reformist’ are themselves 'ideological transvestites', simply borrowing -- or rather stealing -- policies from the left and from the right in order to pacify both sides of the winning equation. GB’s clearly a confused man who needs to get his priorities sorted.

In the latter part of the opinion polls, Tory Triumph looked set. Gordon did not, and got scared. He ran. Unfortunately now and despite speculation, there will be no election for us to watch the man, who could have quite possibly been the UK’s shortest serving PM, fall to his knees.

But for the meantime, it’s a game of neck and neck: Cameron at first announces no tax for those who inherit the equivalent of £1m. Then suddenly, Brown miraculously comes out from the woodwork and announces the same – albeit a pinch less: £500,000. Of course, he had it planned all along – silly me! Or did he?

It will amaze me if Gordon Brown doesn't become a Tory by necessity. He'd better watch out he doesn't sleep-walk to Cameron's camp. To think that Brown, was neatly packaged and positioned as a PM of substance over spin? What rot!

On the flip side, at least we now can see to what extent GB's bonanza spending and taxation over the next two years will prompt the British voter to send their love affair with New Labour to Coventry...or preferably, into orbit.

Our freegan feast

2007-06-19T10:36:00.000Z

Drawing upon my research into the philosophy of freeganism, we wanted to see just how much unnecessary waste corporations throw away.

A robot fancy dress dance night at a local club followed to a walk back home via Falmouth's Iceland was all it took to reveal all. Their skips at the back of the store were full to the brim of fresh fruit, bread and veggies but were alarmingly enough, consigned to the dumping ground.

After diving in, we found:

6 ripe bananas,
A box of ripe strawberries,
A box of fresh blackcurrants,
4 packs of 6 hot-dog baps,
A loaf of bread,
A pre-mixed bag of salad,
A bag of carrots,
A sausage roll
2 packets of tomatoes

And this was just from Iceland! Not bad for two minutes rummaging? We turned this trash into our treasure, and found that we were not the only people in the immediate area who did this on a Monday night. We were joined by two fulltime freegans who seemed ruthlessly competitive in getting to the bulk of Iceland’s trash first.

The irony is that while whole swoop lasted considerably less time than if we were in the store paying for it!

First at last

2007-06-18T13:17:00.001Z

My BA Hons in Journalism is now over and my workaholic tendencies have finally fallen by the wayside; at least, until I find a job or the job finds me. But these tendencies have paid off - to a high degree. The jury’s out and verdict for my studies is a first class honours degree. What a novelty.

But whether my results shocker is more down to luck, tenacity, or both, it’s sods law that my passion for a career in journalism just happens to be in one of the most ruthlessly competitive industries to crack. Maybe, just maybe, my first will help give me break into the opening I’ve been looking for.

Bye to my line

2007-06-18T13:14:00.000Z

So why is it that when you pitch a "good" idea to a local newspaper, they commission it, you write it for free, they publish it and they do not give you a by-line – yet alone a penny?

Call me an old fashioned git , but if you’ve busted a gut to submit ‘good’ copy for no charge in the name of building up that portfolio, then it’s merely courteous to recognise the efforts the contributor with a piffling by-line. Yes, that’s usually no more than two words.

But this has so far proved for some editors to be something as onerous as translating the Gettysburg Address into Latin blindfold, while standing on one leg in the Mississippi in full body armour.

It’s happened twice now with the local press and I’m dying to know why. It has gone down like a cold sup of sick and speaks volumes about the editors. Today was the second occasion it has happened to me, courtesy of The West Briton and it brought back the exasperating wrath I felt when local rival, The Falmouth Packet too decided to take advantage of me last Christmas.

On the first instance, I researched, interviewed and wrote about the revival of ‘Kernowman,’ Cornwall’s own ‘action superhero,’ and the enthusiastic response from the editor of The Falmouth Packet spurred me on for more. After all, I had saved them the effort, time and money for this piece my 420-word news story got published. All they had to do in return was to write “By: Robert Colville” underneath the title, taking not more than 5 seconds. Not a bad deal compared to the four hours I spent transcribing on their behalf, not to mention writing the dam thing. But instead my hard work was attributed to a “staff reporter”.

What a joke, except it lacks all the credentials of a joke. I’m not laughing. Not only had the local rag not kept their side of a deal which was already stacked in their favour, they had the audacity to take complete credit for it. This is the same as stealing!

Is this an industry norm or is this simply, in the words of East Ender’s Big Mo: “bang out of order?”

Come June and it’s the West Briton’s turn to rob me of my by-line. I covered to ex BBC Director-General, Greg Dyke’s lecture at the Tremough Campus, and managed to obtain an exclusive interview and photography of this notorious media player who famously resigned after the Hutton Report.

But for the West Briton, this was not good enough. They published my story on my birthday, June 14, all present and correct except for the by-line. It was evidently good enough to be published, and long enough to warrant a by-line as other stories half its length had by-lines. This is baffling.

It may sound pedantic to be so vocal over something as small as a by-line; one name - two words, but this just illustrates my point further. It’s not hard and it’s the very least commissioning editors can do in return if you’ve taken the trouble to pitch, research, interview, transcribe, photograph, write and meet a deadline on their behalf for free.

Without it you cannot prove that you wrote the story to prospective employers, rendering it almost a complete waste of your time, unless they take the time and trouble to contact the editor to confirm.

You can read both stories here on my website – and yes, I have taken the liberty to insert the rightful claim to my name in! Click here (if you're remotely interested!).

Going back to Front

2007-05-08T16:25:00.000Z

...And finally, after much dithering and re-pitching, my first paid commission from a lads magazine is in the bag. Armed with my star photographer, our job will be to cover Britain's biggest nude fest at the Eden Project on 22 June for Front Magazine. Much to my delight going nude will myself is not part of the contract.

This makes a change to the usual serious and unpaid assignments.

May the 22 June unveil itself to be an eye turner! I do hope that our new found nude acquaintances will lap up the media attention, and that there will be a good selection of age ranges there - preferably more young bright things as opposed to the other end of the age-pyramid, for fear of offending Front’s audience.

The Editor, Joe Barnes seems like a approachable guy - an ex Falmouth College of Arts student also. From graduate to editor in five years - now there's some inspiration.

Unexpected revalations

2007-05-05T14:18:00.000Z

The dreaded dissertation has been taken care of and as arduous as the prospect of writing 12,000 words on 'We are what we read,' might seem, it really did make me realise the extent news audiences could potentially get duped. I asked 81 people on the street about how they consume their news, and what they thought of their favourite title and almost all audiences - from quality daily audiences to the red-top tabloids, considered their title to be 'reliable.'

When certain tabloids print sensational (but false) stories to sell papers to a largely unquestioning audience, it really does show how people's perceptions of the world can be manipulated.

Work-a-holism

2007-03-27T10:38:00.000Z

The most popular stereotype of the three year life of a student from those who have not attended university – nor have any intention of doing so, seems to be a romanticised 'mellow vibe, peace out, romp o'clock, smoke and fly' existence.

While this is almost certainly the case in the first year, where life is markedly less stressful than A-levels is, this experience rapidly degenerates in the second year and by the third, it is completely out of window. Having to write 40,000 words in the third year is something of a challenge and in my best ditch attempt to aim high; I fear that I'm inadvertently turning into a workaholic at too young an age. 'Workaholism' is something that would have represented one of the more fiendish of nightmares throughout my younger years, but I'm OK with it now.

If it is the difference between getting something what you genuinely want in life, or merely drifting along - then it's worth it. A necessary evil, some would say.

So it goes. It had better pay off!

OUTFOX Fox News

2007-03-25T18:02:00.000Z

If you watch Fox News on a regular basis for a ‘fair and balanced’ view on domestic and world events – you may wish to consider watching the documentary ‘Out Foxed’ How would you react if the presenter of a supposedly ‘fair and balanced’ news cast suddenly told his guest to: “Shut up,” then: “Cut his mike,” live on air?

Meet Bill O'Reilly:

I’ve been getting into ‘Out Foxed’ quite heavily lately. The documentary reveals the extent Fox News is so un-journalistic it becomes a joke. Fox News thus is less of a news provider, but more of a proponent of a point of view, championing G.W. Bush, the GOP, and the motives behind the Iraq war whilst vilifying any ‘liberal’ opposition. The network’s owner Rupert Murdoch has been extremely successful in manufacturing consent and manipulating his viewers, or rather, customers into accepting his own pro-conservative, neo-liberal ideologies.

Don’t just take my word for it. As a Brit who was initially quite shocked by how partisan Fox News is, it really does make me appreciate the impartiality of the BBC – something we take for granted this side of the Atlantic.

If I wanted to be pedantic, one could charge the ‘Out Foxed’ film with hypocrisy. After all, despite correctly accusing Fox News for being ‘unfair, unbalanced’ and therefore un-journalistic with their anti liberal sentiments, the film in its ceaseless quest to demonise Fox’s has failed to include their side of the story also – and is therefore imbalanced. But somewhere in the middle, you will come to your own consensus.

Nonetheless, the film is highly recommended…

Check out: http://www.outfoxed.org http://foxattacks.com

Is freeganism the answer?

2007-03-24T21:54:00.000Z

A lot has to be said about this frugal yet under-reported philosophy. Freegans are a band of anti-capitalists who believe that by consuming in the conventional manner, one is contributing to exploitation in the forms of ecological degradation and/or child labour. Their answer is to essentially break away from our throw-away, non-fix-it- consumer culture by foraging, recycling, sharing, mending, growing and squatting - values which have sadly been long lost today.

I spoke to several freegans, in American, Ireland and Britain. One of whom, a former corporate executive, has turned her life to quite the other extreme (as seen on CNN).

Meet Madeline Nelson:

I've been researching this philosophy in connection with features I have written for Red Pepper Magazine and Resurgence, and I genuinely feel that the mainstream press should finally look beyond the sensationalised 'dumpster diving' aspect of this philosophy and turn their attention to what the philosophy actually stands for.

Check out: http://www.freegan.info

New in the 'blogosphere'

2007-03-24T19:09:00.001Z

So here it is - my very own blog. Refreshingly enough, it didn't cost a penny. This makes a gratifying change to grappling with the portfolio website (www.elberto.co.uk), and the necessary evils of HTML and Dreamweaver. Let's see how it pans out.