Wolverhampton named fifth worst city in world


How could I not possibly comment on this story!

Wolverhampton (my hometown) has been named as the fifth worst city to live in the world on a travellers' website.

The list compiled by travel website Lonely Planet puts the West Midlands city below Detroit (USA), Accra (Ghana), Seoul (South Korea) and Los Angeles (USA).

Now, don't get me wrong, Wolverhampton isn't one of my favourite places in the world! I openly admit that when I was looking at University courses, I wanted to move as far away as possible and I chose Winchester because it was such a nice place compared to the city where I spent nearly 20 years of my life.

But to say that it is one of the top five worst places to live in the world is completely laughable.

Detroit is statistically the most dangerous place to live in the US and Los Angeles has a huge gang culture and an ever increasing number of deaths per year from gun crime among a host of other social and economic problems.

How on earth can Wolverhampton be mentioned in the same breath as these places?

Channel 4's annual list of the best and worst places to live revealed that Wolverhampton wasn't even named in the bottom 20 of worst places to live in the UK in 2009.

I refuse to accept there is not a more deserving place to be named in the bottom five than a small city in the Midlands. One comment on the website even ludicrously compared Wolverhampton to Ground Zero in New York!

I don't know what the criteria was for voting on the worst places to live so if anyone knows could they please comment on this page.

Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks 27/12

Thought I would upload some pictures to show off my new camera!



Ian and Jon in front of the impressive new Caterpillar Stand

Can't afford that ideal Christmas present? Just steal it!



Interesting story on the BBC News site today that is sure to lead to some interesting debates.

A priest from North Yorkshire has advised people to shoplift if they find themselves in hard times.

Speaking at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, Reverend Tim Jones said people should steal from big chain stores rather than small businesses.

He told the congregation: "When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly.

"We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime."

Father Jones was blasted by Yorkshire police who said his actions were "highly irresponsible".

Defending his actions, Jones said he was trying to encourage people to give to charity to avoid those in need becoming so desperate, not trying to rally people to shoplift.



I thought I would try and get some reader participation on this story!

Do you think what Rev. Tim Jones said is right, or is he encouraging people to break the law? Is shoplifting ever right?

Vote on my poll and feel free to leave your comments.

Rage Against the Machine are Christmas number 1!



Rage Against the Machine have made it to number 1 in the UK singles chart!!!

I can't quite believe this happened. I know it was close but I never actually expected a song that is over 15 years old to make it to the number one spot over song by X-factor winner Joe McElderry.

RATM's song 'Killing in the Name' sold more than £500,000 copies to keep the 18 year old off the top spot whose single 'The Climb' came in at number 2.

I can honestly say, this has restored a lot of my faith in the music industry and the music buying public.

Rage Against the Machine have achieved this feat off the back of an unofficial facebook group and with a marketing budget of £0.

I know what some people are going to say, Simon Cowell still stands to benefit and Rage are on a major record label yadda yadda. Bottom line, this is a great victory and a good demonstration of social media flexing its muscles and showing how powerful it can be.

The darker side of journalism



Everyone knows the well publicised rewards that come with pursuing a career in journalism. The chance to see your name up in lights, being the first to break a story and making high profile celebrities face the music in interviews are just some of the ones which attracted me to study it at undergraduate level.

But it is not all glitz and glamour as a recent article reminded me.

The Committee to Protect Journalists revealed that 68 journalists were killed in 2009, making it the highest yearly tally since the CPJ started detailing records of journalist deaths.

The previous worst stood at 67 in 2007 when the violence in Iraq was at its peak and media deaths were common.

The record toll this year was driven mainly by the election-related slaughter of more than 30 media workers in the Philippine province of Maguindanao. This is the single deadliest event for the press in CPJ history.

The Philippines, Somalia and Pakistan were identified as amongst some of the most dangerous places, accounting for over 50 media deaths.

The full report can be found here

My Favourite Albums of 2009


The time is finally here!

The selections have been made, the order has been decided, the winners are preparing their speeches; it can only mean one thing...It is time to announce the winner of the highest accolade in music, my top ten favourite albums of 2009!

Mick McCarthy - cop out or wise decision? I feel sorry for the fans...

Most of the newspaper back pages today are focused around one story.




Wolverhampton Wanderers losing to Man Utd at Old Trafford isn't exactly a big story in itself, but last nights result is sure to have any number of bloggers giving their 2 cents worth for a very different reason.

Remixing bands own songs with Creative Commons

I am taking an (extended) break from my law revision to write a blog about something that appeared in my twitter feed this morning.

Thinking about it, this blog concerns Creative Commons and copyright so I guess it is kind of connected to my revision anyway!











Trying new things for 2010

camera

I have decided to get a new digital camera for Christmas to assist me in my new years resolution to take more pictures. The whole resolution thing was admittedly an afterthought as I realised I can loosely justify spending near a £100 on a camera as it is an "essential" purchase.

Noel Edmonds speaks with passion



Everyone loves a bit of talk show ranting! This is a fantastic bit of TV from earlier this year. This clip comes from Noel Edmonds' Sky One show 'Noel's HQ' about the case of a former soldier who had been denied planing permission to build a bungalow. Enjoy!

WINOL Week 6

This week saw the penultimate live WINOL bulletin and happily, the near-the-end-of-term mindset was nowhere to be seen as we produced undoubtedly our best bulletin to date.

Editorially, the show was top draw. We had several very strong stories to choose from and I personally felt a lot of our second year reporters really came of age.

WINOLWe experimented with some new production features such as a backdrop for the studio which we put in, in the gallery. I didn't really feel like this worked very well and at times it looked very unusual if we changed cameras and it didn't move.

I had my first full run using ENPS for the running order and (minus a small panic involving a lack of printer and with deadline looming!), it all ran pretty smoothly.

I again directed output in the gallery and was happy to see that this bulletin came closest to our 10 minute guideline, running over by a few seconds.

A Step Back in Time Part 6: Incubus

I know it's a cliche, but sometimes it's really strange to think how quickly time goes. The 14th of January next year will bring around the eighth anniversary of this gig. Eight years - that is a long time! In that time I have moved house three times, almost completed an undergraduate degree and had three different jobs...but I can still remember this show vividly.

Newspaper forced to pay £30,000 over printing of false Sophie Anderson story

I got this story in my twitter feed on Thursday and I've finally got round to blogging about it.

I am currently studying for a media law exam which deals with issues of libel, defamation and malice and I found this to be a good example of the law in action.

The Sunday Mirror was forced to pay out £30,000 after it published a story claiming model Sophie Anderton had been the victim of a 'vicious attack' in which she was so badly beaten, there were fears for her career.


Author Jose Rosengurtt . Original uploader was Rosengurtt at en.wikipedia
Sophie Anderton

Property development consultant Ed Buxton

Creative Commons in action

I found an article on copying, sharing and reusing material obtained on the internet. I find this area of media law quite interesting so I decided to re-blog it for you.

Creative Commons: Fair to share?

How to get started with ENPS

Last week, we used ENPS for the first time to create our script and running order and so I wanted to create a 'how to' guide for getting started with the programme.


Step 1 - Open up a new document by clicking on the green button in your user file at the bottom.

"Revolutionary" e-reader to be launched in Jan

An article in the Independent today made me realise I needed to do a follow up to my blog about the debates around the death of the press industry with the introduction of e-readers (see it here).

The Curreny Sony E-reader

What is being billed as the "ultimate" e-reader is set to make its debut in January 2010 after 10 years spent

A Step Back in Time Part 5: Biffy Clyro

Those of you who know me would have known this was coming at some point!

For me, the hardest part about writing about a Biffy Clyro show is choosing one (At the last count my tally of Biffy shows was just entering double figures.)


So, which one have I chosen I can hear you ask? Was it the show in 2007 with the mighty Frank Turner? Was it the show in 2004 when they supported Hundred Reasons and quite frankly blew them off the stage?

After much deliberation, I decided to write about

First run of ENPS and a lot of faulty equipment...

Another week, another live bulletin.

The Wednesday definitely felt a lot more subdued than previous weeks and everyone seemed happy and settled in their roles. Turns out this overconfidence would send us crashing down to earth with a bump!

The production was our weakest yet and was one of those in which everything seemed to go wrong. There were problems with sound, VTs, microphones and auto cues. Admittedly many of these mistakes were out of our hands but at the end, it was hard not to feel like we had taken a giant step backwards.

enps print screen http://www.enps.com/

My role was made more exciting/challenging this week with the introduction of ENPS

An interesting media law debate...

During my time studying Journalism, I have found learning about the aspects of media law to be one of the most interesting. I quickly leaned that it often brings up fierce debates between freedom of speech and the public right to privacy.

Looking on the Press Gazette website, I came across a very recent case that was dealt with by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).


The PCC has censured the Bristol Evening Post for intruding on the funeral of a suicide victim.

Journalism.co.uk :: #WANIndia2009: Friend or foe? How global newsrooms are using social media

Journalism.co.uk :: #WANIndia2009: Friend or foe? How global newsrooms are using social media

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About Me

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I am currently in my final year at Winchester University studying Journalism. I hope to become a music journalist although I now realise how difficult it would be to make a living from. Im currently assessing my career options so any suggestions would be welcomed!

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