大象传媒

Idle Scrawl is dead, long live...will it still be called Idle Scrawl?

Paul what is going on? Greece in the doghouse and yet her growth figures surprised the City....better than ours.....

Oh no, does this mean this blog will get the same disastrous makeover as Nick Robinson's? Aaaaaaargh!

I will always find your bloggy thing but,more importantly,have a bloody good night on Tuesday and,although it's not really possible,let your hair down.

Looking forward to more of the same PM. Good luck for Tuesday.

For one insane but delightful moment I thought the 大象传媒 Oompa-Loompas had forgotten you and we could continue to blog away to our fingers' content. Is it the cuts to the moderators that have dictated the absurd 400 character limit. On other, lobotomised sites bloggers have already start blogging in instalments - ha, ha ,ha.

'The new blog will be on in-house software that I have not yet had the pleasure of using.'

The pleasure will be all yours, trust us.

I will try to write in paragraphs of more than one sentence.

Just... don't use many words.

Apparently there is some rebellion going on among commenters about the proposed limitations on comments on other blogs and I leave you to it.

Ah, one has that sinking in feeling. But, why?

On the new system you only get 400 characters including spaces and you can't even do a 'cont...' easily as because it is basically the Have Your Say format and the posts appear in reverse order your continuation will appear above your original post!

Good luck anyway Paul, if your posts get read by a wider audience because they are easier to find then thats a good thing, but without the depth, quality and variety of responses it won't be the same. I've read some great posts on here over the past few years, but, in my opinion at least half a blogs appeal lies in the responses it generates from its readers and in that respect the whole 大象传媒 blogosphere has been diminished. I guess that is what News International wanted though eh? After all, as you have alluded to in some of your posts the future of the media is not going to be on some box in the corner of the living room but on-line. The terrestrial 大象传媒 will be allowed to die of natural causes but the on-line version has had its wings clipped before it had a chance to take off.

"The new blog will be on in-house software that I have not yet had the pleasure of using."

That says it all really doesn't it? The management and the techie boys have imposed something they want. The journalists and users have been told to like it or lump it.

Apart from the 400 char lilmit, the format is terrible, with smaller print even after considerable Ctrl+ enlargement, and only 5 most recent comments visible, expandable to 15. So it's very difficult to follow a coherent thread. If the software was developed in house, then those who commissioned/developed it deserve the boot. But no doubt they will manage their "performance indicators" to justify a bonus. I suspect that the evil ghost of VoldeBirt has not been exorcised.

This may be technological CHANGE Paul, but it isn't PROGRESS, as the tag above suggests. We are coming to the end of a period where the 大象传媒 blogosphere engendered communities which, despite different views within them, challenged the received wisdom imposed from above. Perhaps this is why it is now being sabotaged.

If it is as bad as many of us fear, I'm offski. Thank you Paul for your many thought-proving articles. Thank you too, to the many people on all sides of the debates whose comments have made me think and question/refine my own positions.

You don't know what you've got till it's gone!

A brave new blog for a brave new world.

The clue is in Paul's title...



Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.

Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us.

Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture.

Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.


Nuff said, in the mediasphere Huxley has wonn the day.

Perhaps you could point that out in your acceptance speech if you win the orwell prize.


Or use it as consolation if you dont.

ta ta.

You know Paul, it's often handy to provide a link to your new blog when you're closing down your old one... some of us have 10 RSS feeds to resubscribe to, and these details come in handy!

400 character limit is fine - this is not a vanity press and you can post a link. The new format should curtail risk of comments being hijacked by single issue dogmatists expounding there own thesis.

Censorship, not format is the issue with this 大象传媒 hosted blog. Disband the blog police . If we are able to rate comments ourselves then why do we need anyone else deciding if we are guilty of thoughtcrime ?

SPOILPARTYGAMES - DISMANTLE WESTMINSTER (#13)

"The new format should curtail risk of comments being hijacked by single issue dogmatists expounding there own thesis."

Nuff sed.

Hellenes lucky escape from abusive sexual domination ?

'11. At 22:04pm 13th May 2011, Jericoa
A brave new blog for a brave new world.
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.'

Cluey bloke. Had a few ideas on the machinations of those who would change things for the 'better', but usually end up only changing things to suit yet another few, especially flying in the face of majority views who inconveniently keep voting the 'wrong' way despite repeated 'education'.

For instance, I see Mr. Huhne is in the news at the moment. Some less favourable in driving... ahem... the narrative and hence subject to much watertight oversight and rigour. Some top of the agenda, and hence very top of the news.

/news/uk-13398311



There does seem to be a swelling narrative in some media quarters.

If a tad contradictory perhaps.

Shunting vast impositions onto future generations for short term selfish gains seems to be either good, or bad... depending.

That point has been made a lot in this current dollop of 'reality':

/programmes/b00zzwv6

One wonders if it will be featured much in this 'un:

/programmes/b011dj30

Possibly some reality is made more 'real' in the pre-production and edit suite than others?

#16

Noticed similar things.

Chris Hulme on one hand

David Laws (ex banker) on the other being steadily re-introduced all nice and shiny and pious (aparently).

The lack of news and analysis on the mission creep in Libya.

and my personal favourite of the moment...

The Royal Marine drummers dressed as highway men performing on Bitains got Talent to an obviously pre-planned scenario (the possibilities for analogies are endless for that one)...see clip.






Truth is Huxley and Orwell combined were pretty accurate in predicting the dynamic behind and the emerging manifestation of a kleptocracy.

A kleptocracy largely of the uncounscious mind (in my view) I guess people expect to see a 'kim jong 2'' or a 'newscorp' secret comitee behind its emergence. The truth is we need only look within our own minds and the way we think (largely pre-programmed behaviour at birth) to see that modern society is simply a reflection of the structure of human thought processes (largely unconscious) amplified and made real through the power of technology to a potentially devastating magnitude.

None of this is new it has been a fear of the wise for many a generation and actively guarded against in ancient societies

With the emergence of the western version of 'freedom' and the technology to distribute it unhindered all we are doing is creating a society which reflects the workings of a pre-civilisation mind and it is only a matter of time before the inevitable result of that will manifest itself.

At which point we will re-discover 'mystery' and the cycle will begin again.

All you have to do is watch 'forbidden planet' (based on the Tempest) to understand this.

REVELATION AND REMEMBRANCE 鈥� WRITING ON WALLS

Though 鈥榳e the people鈥� continue to live 鈥� by ignorance or impotence 鈥� 鈥榳ithin the lie鈥�, there can be few, if any, in positions of power, who do not know the truth of 9/11. It was a false flag operation of devilish conception, and ice-cold execution.

Three recent events give me pause: Cameron鈥檚 rush to a military covenant ENSHRINED IN LAW; the 鈥榦fficial鈥� high profile death of Osama bin-Laden, and the release of a letter negating Alastair Campbell鈥檚 shaky submission to the Chilcot Enquiry.

I suggest the writing is, at long last, on the wall for the Bush/Blair Big Lie; namely the 9/11 charade, that Blair hailed as 鈥淐HANGING THE RULES OF THE GAME鈥�.

1) Are we about to see a great many angry military personnel, who were sent to war on a KNOWN FALSEHOOD; too many of them to return as maimed, dead, or 鈥榩arts鈥�? Are they being 鈥榟eaded off鈥�, with a calculated Machiavellian manoeuvre, in the guise of a legalised covenant? Cameron has 鈥榝orm鈥� in this area.

2) And consider the embarrassment of a LIVING bin-LADEN, once the 9/11 lie is blown to Ground Zero smithereens! How fortunate he is dead; and in the nick of time.

I have watched much of Chilcot 鈥� it is all still online (though sudden web-wipes are known to happen). The enquiry was only required to 鈥榣earn lessons鈥�, but some findings are UNAVOIDABLY DAMNING and will, if I am any judge, reverberate globally, condemning Obama and Cameron to fool or knave status.

Might the OLD RULES still hold, and those culpable be yet held to account?

No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I shall find you.
How do I know?
Style, it's all in the style.
So, have no fear I am right behind (in front, to the side) of you.
I mean who else would dare take on: "quantitative easing, English football, the London stage, the Arab Spring, the global economic crisis, all things geeky and any riot I can get safely close to".
Don't count on retaining your dry humour; during these changes (frustrations) dry humour can often become wet.
Standing by for Tuesday...

Paul, sorry I missed your piece at the Levellers Festival yesterday. GPS temporarily stopped working and we ended up overshooting M40 then circling round in a Oxon village.

#18

I dunno Barrrie, I guess there is enough faith in human nature and intelligence left in me for me to find it hard to believe.

I do see a thread of logic in the collapse of the adjacent building to the twin towers but would anyone in the global political world be bold enough for such a move in broad daylight requiring the co-ordination of numerous demolision specialists and others, the potential for leaks would be huge.... I just cant see it.

They are not brave enough and are too pre-occupied with the preservation of thier own skin to try such a thing.

I have no such illusions about our unconscious selves capacity for savagery, the evidence of which is all around us.

Oh no, not you as well.

I have more or less given up on Hewitt and Mardell because the new blog engine is frankly rubbish. If you are being migrated there as well, we may as well give up on 大象传媒 blogs altogether.

A MOVING PIECE...

Bobby Fischer: from prodigy to pariah


Fischer, who registered an IQ of 180, once said that he did not consider himself to be a genius at chess. "I consider myself to be a genius who happens to play chess."

Where is everyone going if they are to give up on the 大象传媒 blogs?

There's some good bloggers here.
Please put up with the dumbed down new blog style & don't disappear.
We can still learn from one another.

@24 I intend to devote more time to my garden, and to reading real books! :-)

@23 The Grauniad should know better: "an IQ of 180" on WHAT SCALE? According to MENSA ".... an IQ of 150 is a meaningless claim unless you know the actual test which was used."

On a Wechsler scale, (SD 15), a score 0f 180 would imply 5+ SDs from the mean, with a nominal probability of less than 1/1000000. This is perfectly possible, given the size of the human population. However, whether it would be possible to calibrate tests meaningfully is another matter. On the Cattell III B scale, (SD 24) used by MENSA it would correspond to a nominal probability of about 1/5000 - except that "An adult can only get a maximum IQ of 161 on the Cattell III B test."



Whatever his IQ, it didn't help him to be happy, to have a grasp of truth, or to function well socially, poor sod.

#26 Time for gardening...


Given the consensus of posting on here wrt the future I take it you will be digging up all the flowers in your garden and replacing them with potatoes, carrots, winter beans and a chicken coop?

What was once so simple is turning into a medium for the self opinionated chattering classes who of course know how to use all these new technilogical inventions for the own advantage.

It is either Twitter and Facebook which are fast becoming the 'unsocial media' or some complicated to get into and comment on blog somewhere in cyberspace only available to those 'in the know'.

All designed to keep us dumb and subserviant so I guess I will have to join others who really want to know what's going on by tapping into media outside the UK.

@27 Jericoa - There will be more veg, I hope, but I'm not a Philistine - I love flowers! :-)

@28 The English language version of Der Spiegel is always worth a look, and Spiegel has a good track record of standing up for press freedom too!

@25 DVR

I propose a month's boycott, then see how the land lies. :-)

There are plenty of half decent blogs out there and the Guardian's various ones are better than most. My problem is - sorry Paul, I don't often do rave reviews - it is rare to find a journalist with the willingness and ability to side shift through a range of topics from sport to music to good writing, still handle his brief with authority and chuck in a health lump of humour when called for. Paul, I will continue to read with interest but attempt to head-butt the stone wall that is the new blog engine? Sorry - does not compute.

threnodio - yeah that's where I'm at. I'll carry on subscribing to the rss feed to read the articles.

I'm also going to give Spiegel a go for a week instead of 大象传媒 news which is a bit turgid.

#32 - Ben

You found the rss feeds in the new blog format? Damned if I can. Where is it?

#32 - Ben

OK - found it.

"Despite the numerous logistical challenges of the move it will be worth it as the content will now be only a few dozen clicks away from the 大象传媒's main page."

Really? As far as I can see the main point of this reorganisation was to make most people's blogs even harder to find than they where before.

?!? So is this blog moving or not ?

If it has moved, can someone post a link here to Paul Mason's new blog.

#36 has a point - where's the new blog? I've been trying to add its RSS feed for a week, but it doesn't seem to exist.