What’s Behind the Balcombe Fracking Protest?
| September 26, 2013 | Posted by Dan Clayton under Documentaries |
In the run up to forthcoming Salon debates in Leeds and Manchester on fracking, I decided to go down to Balcombe and find out what inspired the protestors to oppose this drilling technique. I was expecting climate change to loom large in interviews, but I was surprised to discover this particular concern was barely mentioned.…
Review: Supersized Earth
| December 8, 2012 | Documentaries |
In BBC4′s fantastic documentary Supersized Earth we are taken on a journey around the world to see how humanity is transforming the planet. Episode 3 featured, amongst other things, the world’s largest cattle ranches (Brazil), the world’s biggest opencast mine (USA), and the construction of the earth’s largest man-made river (China). The Chinese are building…
World War II: Making up stories
| December 7, 2012 | In the news |
The BBC’s Robin Lustig announced yesterday that next Monday will be the 70th anniversary of ‘one of the most significant and least know international declarations ever made’. Was this the declaration of independence by some obscure colony? No, this was a statement agreed by the Allied governments of Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, in…
Debate: Food or flowers?
| December 7, 2012 | Supermarkets |
Have you ever wondered why we buy flowers from places like Kenya and Ethiopia when people there are struggling to feed themselves? In an area of the world in which regular droughts result in hunger, wouldn’t the water and land be better used to grow food? In 2010 I visited Kenya to talk to some…
World Music Fest
| December 7, 2012 | Music |
In October 2012 The Anglers Club in Leeds was the venue for a World Music Fest. Non-stop music and dancing featured local performers as well as acts from all around the World, including Songo Drumming. Watch this space for video highlights.
The media is not a profession
| December 7, 2012 | Posted by Dan Clayton under Leveson Inquiry |
Other professions are regulated then why not the press? Post-Levenson this has become the new mantra. But the press is not like the medical profession, which is a closed body with exams and qualifications needed to gain admittance. The hack is not like a gas engineer who can expose its customers to harm if a…
Is university worth the money?
| December 6, 2012 | Posted by Dan Clayton under University |
For this short vox pop I wanted to find out what students thought about the rise in tuition fees. I drew up a series of questions asking them why they had made the decision to come to Leeds University and whether fees had put them off. I wanted students to tell me whether they thought…
You can’t say that…. Bongo Bongo land
| August 7, 2012 | Posted by Dan Clayton under You can't say that..... |
Apparently there are some things you just can’t say, some words that are so offensive, so wrong, that their use is beyond the pale. Bongo bongo land is the latest phrase to provoke the condemnation of moral linguists. What is interesting about many applications of speech etiquette is that it isnt what is said so…