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Aug 4, 2012

At the Olympics: Hype vs Reality

The Hindu, August 4 2012 I enjoyed my afternoon at the Olympics, sitting in my public lottery assigned £50 seat at the ExCel, with a fine view of the men’s boxing. And I enjoyed it not least because I was finally able to watch the sport itself without the surrounding hype, the layers of commentary…. Read more

Apr 17, 2010

Managed democracy

17 April, The Guardian, Comment is free It started on a low – with all three leaders defining “immigration” as a problem and promising “tougher” action – and it didn’t get much better. From the economy to Afghanistan to “law and order” there was an unspoken consensus upheld by a host of unasked questions. In… Read more

Jan 28, 2007

Unreality TV

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 28 January ALL words can be cheapened by misuse, especially when they are misused by the powerful. The reality they refer to is disguised, rather than revealed. But what happens when the word in question is “reality” itself? On his visit to India, Gordon Brown, still the bookie’s favourite to… Read more

Nov 13, 2005

Cricket stamped with Murdoch footprint

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 13 November Last summer’s engrossing Ashes series was a testament to the joyful rigors of Test cricket, a long-awaited boost for the game in its native land – and a windfall for Rupert Murdoch. Prior to the series, cable-satellite network Sky TV (in which Murdoch’s News Corp is the largest… Read more

Jan 6, 2002

Timidly into the past

By Charles Shaar Murray and Mike Marqusee Independent on Sunday, January 6 2002 When is Star Trek not Star Trek? When it’s Enterprise. The latest instalment of television’s 35-year-old science-fiction flagship – which begins tomorrow on Sky 1 – cannily hedges its bets by omitting the words “Star Trek” from its title, but that’s not… Read more