Monthly Archives May 2020

May 29, 2020,  News  No comments

When I was working in BBC News & Current Affairs in the late 80s/early 90s, the internet was in its infancy and there wasn’t Facebook or YouTube or Twitter.

Also, we had the BBC Guidelines, under DG John Birt, that provided guidance on balance, impartiality and how certain news items were to be reported, particularly during election times, etc.  These days, with 24-hour rolling news and the fragmentation of media and audiences, it’s that much harder to be heard, so journalists use social media as another channel to engage with the audience.

It will be interesting to see what former-BBC boss Richard Sambrook advises in how the BBC continues to steer a path of neutrality in wh...

May 29, 2020,  Guru in a Bottle  No comments

A brilliant example of Jugaad Innovation for PPE Facemasks for those who need to lip read.

For more on this news story, click here 

May 29, 2020,  Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Data Protection Supervisor, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

Having left the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020, the UK is currently in a Brexit transition period that runs out on 31 December 2020. Whilst the other 27 Member States of the EU have been grappling with containing the Covid-19 pandemic, you could be forgiven for thinking these countries as well as the UK have taken their eyes off the ball when it comes to striking a Brexit deal.

If you think that to be the case, think again.

If the UK wants an extension, it will need to ask for this by 30 June 2020 and the European Commission has already indicated that in the circumstances this would be granted...

May 16, 2020,  Guru in a Bottle  No comments

I was really lucky to have worked with Lynn Faulds-Wood and John Stapleton when the dynamic duo presented Watchdog in the early ‘90s.

In those days, the production office was sandwiched between Kilroy (floor below) and That’s Life (floor above) at BBC Lime Grove Studios in Hammersmith (now sadly long gone). However, my memories of working with Lynn and John and meeting them years after we’d all left the show have stayed with me ever since.

I remember Lynn and John saying to me that they thought I wrote really well for TV and they never changed a word of the scripts I would write for them. That was high praise given it was my first AP job in telly.

I had come across from...