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Great mistakes in politics (No42) Rick Perry’s Oops moment
Published on 2012-11-23 14:33:24
For all the talk of the 2012 US Presidential election being about ‘social media’, it actually demonstrated that live TV debates still mattered. Throughout the campaign the debates probably shaped the public’s perception of the candidates more t
Great political TV series (No11) The Caesars
Published on 2012-11-21 14:07:52
If you asked the average British person to name a TV series about the Roman Empire full of sex, violence and political scheming, I’m fairly sure they’d pick I Claudius (or possibly Rome depending on how old they were). It’s …
Great political movies (No59) Argo
Published on 2012-11-19 13:15:29
F Scott Fitzgerald once said there were no second acts in American lives, but Ben Affleck seems determined to prove him wrong. Originally part of the indie scene in the 1990s he quickly became a Hollywood leading actor. Thanks to … Continue rea
Great political movies (No58) Holy Flying Circus
Published on 2012-11-14 11:24:31
What are the limits of free speech? How tolerant should we be of unpopular ideas? To what extent should we be allowed to offend other people? These are some of the big questions that mankind has been wrestling with since … Continue reading U
Great mistakes in politics (No41) The Australian Immigration Restriction Act of 1901
Published on 2012-11-09 15:54:41
Lots of countries both past and present have struggled with the issue of immigration. While a few have taken a relatively laissez-faire attitude, others have tied themselves in knots attempting to keep people out. This has been justified for a …
Great political movies (No57) Silent Waters (Khamosh Pani)
Published on 2012-11-07 10:59:37
Here’s a question; how many female film directors can you name? I’m guessing about a dozen or so. Because the glass ceiling is still very much in place in Hollywood, most tend to work in the art house sector. Unfortunately … Continu
Great political documentaries (No27) Chicago Ten
Published on 2012-11-02 15:14:06
The 1968 Democratic Party Convention in Chicago is notorious for a lot of reasons, all of them deserved. The war in Vietnam had spun out of control and an increasingly beleaguered Lyndon Baines Johnson had decided not to run again … Continue re
Great political movies (No56) Too big to fail
Published on 2012-10-31 15:46:48
Whenever a big event happens in American politics these days it’s almost a guarantee that sooner or later HBO will turn it into a movie. They’d already done the 2000 election in Recount, and Too big to fail was their … Continue read
Great political documentaries (No26) Page One – Inside the New York Times
Published on 2012-10-25 15:50:38
It’s no secret that print media has been in trouble for some time. Newspaper sales are declining, and more and more people are getting their information for free from the internet. As a result mainstream news outlets have been cutting … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No55) The Round-Up (Szegénylegények)
Published on 2012-10-24 15:02:25
Most Hungarian films are still largely unknown outside of art house circles; which is a shame as there have been some excellent ones over the years. Especially interesting are those made during the Soviet era in the 60s and 70s. … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No54) Blue Collar
Published on 2012-10-16 14:16:44
Movies about trade unions can usually be divided into two types. The first is where the union rallies the workers together in order to fight for better pay and conditions (for instance Bread and Roses and the documentary Harlan Country … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No25) Hearts and Minds
Published on 2012-08-02 07:14:07
There have been hundreds of films and documentaries over the years attempting to explain what went wrong in Vietnam. Hearts and Minds was one of the first and best, and is notable for being released while the conflict was still … Continue reading →
Political predictions they got wrong (No34) Sidney and Beatrice Webb predict the success of the Soviet Union
Published on 2012-07-31 09:23:27
I often think one of the problems with intellectuals is that they become locked into ideas and ideologies in the same way other people become locked in rooms. I’ve always believed that the whole point of being smart is that you can … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No53) The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari)
Published on 2012-07-30 10:58:17
The great thing about chess is that it can be used as a metaphor for just about anything; relationships, warfare, even the EU Common Agricultural Policy, the possibilities are endless. In The Chess Players, Satyajit Ray uses it as a way of … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No24) 4 Little Girls
Published on 2012-07-26 10:36:12
Sometimes you’ve got to wonder about humanity. Over 150 years after Thomas Jefferson first wrote that all men are created equal, a huge chunk of the American population still thought it was acceptable to discriminate against people due to the … Continue reading →
Political predictions they got wrong (No33) Newt Gingrich keeps getting it wrong
Published on 2012-07-24 09:45:00
When people on the right attempt to defend Newt Gingrich they usually avoid mentioning his many character flaws and try to talk up his intelligence. For instance, during the 2012 primaries his supporters could often be seen and heard in … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No52) The Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech)
Published on 2012-07-23 12:42:55
Sometimes when films are banned it’s difficult in retrospect to see why. For instance a lot of the so-called ‘video nasties’ that the British government took exception to in the early 1980s now look laughably tame. In the case of … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No23) The War Room
Published on 2012-07-19 14:03:09
The War Room isn’t the first attempt to take a behind the scenes look at how a political campaign is run, Joe McGinniss’s book The Selling of the President had already done it in 1968. However it was the first major … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No51) Bob Roberts
Published on 2012-07-18 09:55:53
Few things age as quickly as satire. Because it’s so often heavily reliant on news and topical events, what’s cutting edge one day can be irrelevant a few weeks later. For instance it’s actually quite difficult to watch old episodes of British … Continue reading →
Political predictions they got wrong (No32) A Short History of the Future by W. Warren Wagar
Published on 2012-07-17 14:09:06
I really hate the term “Future Studies”. The trouble is that it’s a growing field; largely for two reasons. One is that if you make your predictions for far enough in the future you can’t be proven wrong. Secondly, if … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No40) Nixon pledges to campaign in all 50 states in 1960
Published on 2012-07-13 10:51:14
There are a lot of reasons why Richard Nixon lost the 1960 Presidential election to John F Kennedy. These include the fact that Kennedy was more adept at using the relatively new medium of TV, he had a better running mate in … Continue reading →
Great political plays (No8) A Question of Attribution by Alan Bennett
Published on 2012-07-11 12:25:52
In my review of the film version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I commented on how the real world of spying was so much more banal than how the movies portrayed it. Another thing they rarely show is what happens when spies … Continue reading →
Political predictions they got wrong (No31) Paul Samuelson’s Economics
Published on 2012-07-10 11:56:33
If you go into any decent second-hand book shop and look in the economics section, I’d be willing to bet you’d find several different additions of Nobel prize winner Paul Samuelson’s best-selling textbook Economics. First published in 1948 it’s sold over … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No50) Tout va bien
Published on 2012-07-09 15:39:45
At the risk of sounding like a philistine I have to admit I’ve never been a particularly big fan of Jean-Luc Godard. I thought Breathless was style over substance, and that Alphaville is perhaps the most over-rated sci-fi film ever … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No49) Joe
Published on 2012-07-02 10:32:00
Joe isn’t the first film to satirize Middle America’s reaction to the 1960s counter-culture (Wild in the Streets got there first by a year), but it is one of the more political incisive. Normally when you see a movie advertised as being from the director … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No39) The Arjun tank fiasco
Published on 2012-05-04 09:29:03
One of the great things about modern democracy is meant to be civilian control over the armed forces. In practise however, thanks to the insidious impact of the military-industrial complex, this control has often been weak at best and in … Continue reading →
Taking a week off from blogging
Published on 2012-04-25 10:18:34
This is just a quick update to let people know that I won’t be updating my blog for a week as I’m taking a short break due to work commitments. All things being equal I should be back with new posts … Continue reading →
Great political TV series (No10) The Alan Clark Diaries
Published on 2012-04-23 13:24:48
By all accounts, his own included, the late Alan Clark MP was not a very nice man. Seen by some as vain, pompous and self-pitying, he was a mediocre historian, an ok parliamentarian and a great writer. He was, however, … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No38) The Strategic Hamlets project in Vietnam
Published on 2012-04-20 09:50:25
All wars lead to mistakes. The Vietnam conflict probably led to more than most others combined. The number of studies devoted to where the French, South Vietnamese and USA went wrong would take years to fully digest. For those without … Continue reading →
Great political TV series (No9) The Prisoner
Published on 2012-04-19 13:55:15
What can I say about The Prisoner that hasn’t been said a million times before? Groundbreaking? Visionary? Surreal? Utterly bonkers? Actually Patrick McGoohan’s masterpiece is all of these things and more. It’s hard to imagine what a big career risk this must … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No48) The Deal
Published on 2012-04-17 14:42:08
For a man who was Prime Minister of Britain for over a decade, Tony Blair seems to have quickly faded from the public’s memory. With the exception of Iraq and the Northern Irish peace process, it’s actually quite hard to remember what … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No47) Path to War
Published on 2012-04-16 13:31:04
Path to War begins with Lyndon Baines Johnson’s inauguration ball in 1965. In his speech he toasts his forthcoming administration, boasting that it features more talented and educated staff than any other government in US history. As Will Rogers once … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No37) The US media supports the 2002 Venezuelan coup
Published on 2012-04-13 13:19:43
I was actually in Seattle in 2002 when this happened so I didn’t get the full version of events until I was back in the UK. As far as I could tell at the time there had been a coup in … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No22) Countdown to Zero
Published on 2012-04-12 10:27:52
Near the beginning of Countdown to Zero you see inside one of the USA’s silos that houses their vast store of nuclear missiles. A sign is painted on the door, ‘Global delivery in less than half an hour or your … Continue reading →
Great political TV series (No8) Generation Kill
Published on 2012-04-11 11:04:43
In the aftermath of the Iraq debacle it’s often forgotten how swift the actual invasion was. From entering Iraq to the fall of Baghdad, the whole thing took less than a month. Of course that’s when the real problems began. … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No46) Recount
Published on 2012-04-10 09:10:14
Academics and journalists always like to play the game of historical ‘what if?’ What if the South had won the Civil War? What if the Nazis had won WW2? What would have happened if Nixon hadn’t been impeached? One of … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No36) Francis Maude causes panic at the pumps
Published on 2012-04-06 10:38:06
A golden rule for politicians should always be ‘think before you speak’. However more often than not they don’t. Actually in some cases it’s almost as if they’d thought very carefully about what the worst thing to say would be, … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No21) Standard Operating Procedure
Published on 2012-04-05 11:08:33
Standard Operating Procedure was unfairly overlooked when it was originally released. Perhaps this was because America had had enough of analysing its mistakes. Alternatively maybe it was because a documentary on a very similar theme, Taxi to the Dark Side, … Continue reading →
Great political TV series (No7) Ten Days to War
Published on 2012-04-04 10:27:46
Ten Days to War is probably a series that most people haven’t seen. It was aired back in 2008 for the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Made up of eight brief vignettes, each only 12 minutes long, it … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No45) Margin Call
Published on 2012-04-03 10:22:58
The aftermath of the Vietnam war saw dozens of films attempting to make sense of the conflict. I suspect that in the next decade or so we’ll begin to see just as many movies picking apart the insanity of the … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No44) JFK
Published on 2012-04-02 10:48:08
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since JFK was released in 1991. While not the first political movie to deal with conspiracy theories, the Manchurian Candidate and the Parallax View had got there first by several decades, … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No43) Danton
Published on 2011-11-14 12:53:16
I’ve always been suspicious of revolutions. While change is inevitable and sometimes to be welcomed, far too often revolutionaries seem to embrace constant and sudden change as the optimum outcome. Also whenever anyone claims to embody the will of the … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No42) Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Published on 2011-10-27 10:46:07
Is there anyone in the movie industry today with such an eclectic and brilliant body of work as Werner Herzog? In his career he’s tackled a whole range of subjects and projects, each one seemingly more outlandish than the last. … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No35) Liam Fox’s friendship with Adam Werritty
Published on 2011-10-14 12:11:37
There’s an old saying in politics about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. In this case it looks like UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox made the mistake of keeping his friends too close. He’s just resigned after a seven-day media … Continue reading →
Great political comics (No3) Tee Time in Berzerkistan
Published on 2011-10-12 13:06:19
Who would have thought that some of the best commentary on US politics and society over the past four decades would have been in a newspaper comic strip? Created by Garry Trudeau in 1970, Doonesbury started life chronicling the college career of the … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No34) Gordon Brown insults Gillian Duffy
Published on 2011-09-30 13:29:27
A good rule of politics is to not insult your own voters. An even better rule is to not insult them while you’re being recorded by the media. One of the reasons people are so cynical in this country is that … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No20) One Day in September
Published on 2011-09-29 13:52:51
Far too often we think of terrorism as being a relatively recent phenomenon. However looking back over the 20th century it’s during the 70s and 80s when it really seemed like an epidemic in the West. In Germany the Baader … Continue reading →
Great political movies (No41) Dr Strangelove (or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)
Published on 2011-09-26 14:48:15
It says a lot about human beings that we have a tendency to laugh at what scares us most. In 1964 the whole world was absolutely terrified at the prospect of nuclear war. The Cuban missile crisis two years earlier … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No33) France sinks the Rainbow Warrior
Published on 2011-09-23 12:21:53
In 1985 France was in the process of building and testing a new generation of nuclear weapons. Now obviously testing nuclear warheads is a tricky business at the best of times, so the decision was made to do it underground … Continue reading →
Great political documentaries (No19) Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Published on 2011-09-22 13:36:47
Everyone knows that the biggest problem in American politics is money. Money might not be the root of all evil but the love of it certainly is. Casino Jack and the United States of Money tells the story of super-lobbyist Jack … Continue reading →
Great scenes from political movies (No6) Arthur Jensen’s speech from Network
Published on 2011-09-21 12:57:33
Whenever anyone talks about Network the first thing they normally bring up is Howard Beale’s remarkable, ‘I’m as mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore‘ speech. While this is a highlight of the movie the best … Continue reading →
Political predictions they got wrong (No23) George Washington predicts the collapse of the USA
Published on 2011-07-05 12:18:08
Probably more than any of the other Founding Fathers, with the possible exception of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington spent a lot of time worrying about the future. In his speeches he was always referring to the ‘unborn millions’ and h
Why did Socialism never develop in the USA?
Published on 2011-07-05 08:58:34
The United States as a country has many unique features. One that is often pointed out by its more right-wing supporters is that, unlike most other industrial nations, it never embraced socialism. Of course socialism does exist in America in sever
Great political movies (No32) Bulworth
Published on 2011-07-04 14:46:58
When better than the 4th of July to review a movie that questions some of the fundamentals of American democracy and government? For me this is the last decent movie Warren Beatty made before he effectively retired. In it he plays a liberal Senat
The Spirit of Liberty
Published on 2011-07-04 06:39:51
America was founded on the idea of liberty. It stands or falls on that principle. Despite being one of the freest nations on Earth the USA has not always lived up to this, and there have been plenty of cases … Continue reading →
What would the Founding Fathers do?
Published on 2011-07-03 07:45:34
I really really hate that question. In the run up to the 4th of July this year I’ve noticed a huge increase in blog posts and articles where people talk about contemporary issues in relation to what the Founding Fathers would have done ̷
Great mistakes in politics (No25) Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807
Published on 2011-07-01 07:18:38
I have to admit here that I don’t like Thomas Jefferson. Of all the major Founding Fathers he is my least favourite by some considerable margin. However that said, he was a fairly successful President of the USA with one … Continue readin
Great political documentaries (No9) The Times of Harvey Milk
Published on 2011-06-30 11:54:58
Sometimes when people are transformed into symbols we run the risk of losing sight of them as actual human beings. This poses a problem for documentary makers. Do you glorify the symbol, or try to focus on who they really … Continue reading
Great political plays (No3) The League of Youth
Published on 2011-06-29 11:32:49
One of the big problems with modern politics is the rise of style over substance. The fact that we seem to care more about how a politician says something than what they’re actually saying. The League of Youth was written in 1869 and shows
Political predictions they got wrong (No22) The Coming Collapse of China
Published on 2011-06-28 10:31:13
Gordon Chang has been predicting the collapse of China for over a decade now. Whenever China is in the news he turns us as an analyst, often on Fox, to discuss how the world’s newest superpower is doing. The answer … Continue reading U
Great political movies (No31) The Last Mitterrand
Published on 2011-06-27 09:59:05
All political careers end in failure, at least that’s what Enoch Powell thought. I’m not entirely sure I agree with this, but what is true is that once they’re dead politicians no longer have any control over how they’re re
Rumours of Hugo Chavez’s death have been exaggerated
Published on 2011-06-27 07:22:40
I was looking at my Twitter feed late last night when I began to see multiple tweets about the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. They tended to follow a pattern of either stating that he had died, people speculating that … Continue re
Is reading a play ever a bad idea?
Published on 2011-06-26 04:34:21
Obviously reading in general is a good thing and I’ve usually got my nose in a good book. However I’ve recently come across a dilemma about whether reading is always the best way to experience something. On my politics blog … Continue readi
Great mistakes in politics (No24) Clinton pardons Marc Rich
Published on 2011-06-24 13:17:12
When people talk about the separation of powers in the USA one of the things they often fail to mention is that there is an awful lot of overlapping. For instance the judiciary has a role in lawmaking through its … Continue reading →
Great scenes from political movies (No5) Nixon’s meeting with Richard Helms
Published on 2011-06-23 10:52:24
As I’ve argued before, Oliver Stone had made some truly terrible films in his time, but when he’s on form no one can touch him. His last great work was Nixon from 1995 which I’ve reviewed elsewhere on this blog. It’s probabl
Great political plays (No2) The Pitmen Painters
Published on 2011-06-22 09:13:50
I’ve always been a great believer in the liberating power of art. Also the idea that people should not be denied access to culture on the basis of wealth, class or education. The Pitmen Painters looks at all of these … Continue reading &#
Jon Huntsman and the Presidency in 2012
Published on 2011-06-21 11:55:42
Yet another contender has thrown their hat into the race to be the Republican candidate for President in 2012. In this case it’s Jon Huntsman, which leaves only Rick Perry and Sarah Palin unaccounted for. On face value Huntsman looks like R
Political predictions they got wrong (No21) The Literary Digest predicts that Landon will win the 1936 election
Published on 2011-06-21 10:14:29
Nothing is inevitable until it actually happens. Then once it’s happened it’s often easy to look back and assume that it was always going to, even though it didn’t seem that way at the time. For instance, George Washington and ̷
Great political movies (No30) Good Morning, Night
Published on 2011-06-20 07:09:42
I’ve always been fascinated by the Italian political system. As well as being one of the most fragmented party systems in the world it is also one of the most polarised. Alongside the centre parties there are groups on both the extreme …
Great political non-fiction books (No4) Labyrinth: The truth behind the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls by Randall Sullivan
Published on 2011-06-17 05:36:40
Labyrinth is subtitled Corruption and Vice in the LAPD: The Truth behind the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Whether it actually lives up to this billing is debatable. While the author Randall Sullivan does examine the murders in grea
Great political documentaries (No8) Why we fight
Published on 2011-06-16 09:28:05
Dwight D Eisenhower is that rarest of rare things, a US President that is popular with both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans like him because he presided over steady economic growth combined with a strong foreign policy. Democrats like him bec
Political predictions they got wrong (No20) An end to boom and bust
Published on 2011-06-15 10:30:56
There’s a very old joke that goes something like this, “How do you make God laugh?”, the punchline is ”Tell him your future plans”. Despite the fact that predicting the future is as about as easy as sailing the Atlant
Michele Bachmann was the breakout star of the Republican Primary debate
Published on 2011-06-14 07:00:20
Watching the Republican debate on CNN last night it occurred to me that there were a lot of similarities here with a regular scripted show. All of the candidates had obviously spent a lot of time preparing with their advisors, carefully rehearsin
Mitt Romney and the Republican party debate
Published on 2011-06-13 11:57:43
Over the last week various polls have been published showing Mitt Romney as the current favourite for the Republican Party nomination for President. This is good for him as it helps give his campaign momentum and he can present himself … Contin
Great political movies (No29) Army of Shadows
Published on 2011-06-13 10:30:08
How would you react if your country was occupied by a foreign invader? This is a question that has been asked many times over the years. The classic political movie The Battle of Algiers argued that acts of terror were a … Continue reading
Great mistakes in politics (No23) – Gordon Brown sells Britain’s gold reserves
Published on 2011-06-10 13:42:13
Gordon Brown is probably not going to be remembered as one of the Great British Prime Ministers. His short time in power saw his government lurch from disaster to disaster, eventually culminating in its electoral defeat in May 2010. However … C
Five reasons why Madame Vastra and Jenny should get their own spin-off show
Published on 2011-06-09 12:44:34
Today I’m going to discuss gender and sexual politics on British TV in a rather roundabout way. Last Saturday the BBC showed the Doctor Who mid-series finale, “A good Man goes to War”. I have to say that while not … Continue r
Twelve things every candidate needs in order to become President
Published on 2011-06-08 13:12:12
Becoming President of the United States is perhaps the hardest job in politics. One of the great myths of American political culture is that anyone can become President. In reality though this privilege is reserved for a tiny minority. Out of …
Great political movies (No28) The Motorcycle Diaries
Published on 2011-06-06 14:32:26
Making films about the early lives of famous historical figures is always a bit tricky. Either you spend all your time trying to account for their later behaviour, or run the risk of presenting them as paragons of virtue to be … Continue readi
Great mistakes in politics (No22) – Bush and Quayle attack sitcoms
Published on 2011-06-03 10:42:16
Politicians should always be careful about who they pick fights with. The benefits and negative consequences need to be weighed up before launching any sort of attack that could make or break a political career. Generally they don’t like ge
Great political plays (No1) Squaring the Circle
Published on 2011-05-26 13:47:24
The problem with writing fiction about history, is that unless it’s incredibly well documented, the author inevitably has to make at least some of it up. This can include dialogue, characters and even entire events. On other occasions the writ
Off to Philadelphia
Published on 2011-05-18 14:38:02
This is just a quick post to say that I’ll be updating my blog less frequently this week as I’m off to Philadelphia for a few days. I’ve never been before so I’m looking forward to seeing the birthplace of … Continue rea
Great political movies (No27) Four Lions
Published on 2011-05-16 10:52:20
Will Self once argued on the politics show Newsnight that good satire should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable (he was quoting US journalist Finley Peter Dunne). Chris Morris seems to have made an entire career out of doing just th
The advantages of collaborative academic blogging
Published on 2011-05-15 04:49:58
Last week I wrote a column about the benefits of academic blogging. This was written very much from the perspective of a single academic blogging on my own. However from time to time I’ve been involved in collaborative academic blogs such R
Eleven great political mistakes
Published on 2011-05-14 15:48:48
Every so often I like to collect up a bunch of my columns in one post. Today it’s eleven great political mistakes, ranging from the very recent (Rudy Giuliani’s failed 2008 Presidential campaign) to the 1970s and 80s (Joe Clark, Walter &
Great mistakes in politics (No20) – Nick Clegg and the AV Referendum
Published on 2011-05-13 13:01:10
Last Thursday the British public rejected the referendum on the Alternative Vote, leaving Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats with egg all over their faces. In retrospect their decision to accept the Conservatives offer to hold the referendum migh
Great political poems (No7) The Lost Leader
Published on 2011-05-12 10:34:15
The poem ‘The Lost Leader’ has been in the news this week because Paddy Ashdown quoted from it when talking about the future of the coalition and the failure of the Liberal Democrats in the local elections. Many commentators in the med
The local elections, the referendum and the Liberal Democrats
Published on 2011-05-12 07:49:35
I originally wrote this as an article for yesterdays Nottingham Post newspaper but thought that it would also make a good blog post. It’s difficult to imagine how last Thursday’s election could have been any worse for Nick Clegg and ̷
Political predictions they got wrong (No19) The Coming Job Boom
Published on 2011-05-10 07:34:46
Sometimes mistaken predictions are merely a matter of bad timing. For instance people can be right in the long-term while being horribly wrong in the short-term. That’s partly why so many futurologists attempt to make their predictions a
The politics of the superinjunction
Published on 2011-05-09 07:12:24
This weekend there has been plenty of discussion online and in the news about the use of superinjunctions by celebrities and others in order to keep their private lives out of the media. Superinjunctions differ from normal injunctions in that you
The benefits of academic blogging
Published on 2011-05-08 13:26:28
I’ve been writing my blog now for about seven months, and I thought it might be interesting to post something about the benefits of academic blogging. As universities start to push academics to make use of social media platforms, I fully exp
Matthew Ashton on BBC Radio Nottingham
Published on 2011-05-06 13:51:25
Well the local elections are pretty much all over now, and it looks like the Liberal Democrat vote has almost completely collapsed. I attended the count for Nottingham City Council to help cover the event for the BBC, and by the … Continue rea
Six conspiracy theories about the death of Bin Laden and their flaws
Published on 2011-05-05 11:03:44
All of this week I’ve been observing the political and media reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden. I’ve also been keeping an eye on the host of conspiracy theories that have started to emerge. While I’m going to … Continue
Political predictions they got wrong (No18) The death of Osama Bin Laden
Published on 2011-05-04 06:36:30
As we all now know, Osama Bin Laden was killed this week by US forces after he was finally found hiding in Pakistan. As I wrote yesterday, large sections of the internet are now claiming that his murder was faked as … Continue reading →
The conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Bin Laden
Published on 2011-05-03 11:35:25
Less than 24 hours after Osama Bin Laden’s death, I noticed that conspiracy theories about it had already started to emerge. In the past, conspiracy theories would take weeks, if not months, to grow and develop, but now thanks to the … C
The political impact of Osama Bin Laden’s death
Published on 2011-05-02 08:04:11
Every so often an event happens that is so striking that you remember exactly where you were when you heard it. I woke up this morning to find out from the BBC that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American … Continue reading →
Matthew Ashton in the media
Published on 2011-05-01 12:12:21
I was interviewed on the BBC Politics Show East Midlands today. I’ve never done anything on TV before, so I was a bit nervous beforehand, but it seemed to go ok. I was interviewed by the Political Editor John Hess and we … Continue read
The rise of the pseudo-candidate
Published on 2011-04-29 11:18:26
When I use the term pseudo-candidate I’m referring to people who flirt with the idea of running for the Presidency before ultimately deciding not to. This is by no means a new phenomenon, but in the last few years we … Continue reading &#
The political impact of the Royal Wedding
Published on 2011-04-28 13:19:07
Well tomorrow is the big day and Britain has pretty much come to a standstill. Everyone is either gearing up to watch the Royal Wedding, or taking advantage of the amazing weather to enjoy themselves over the Bank Holiday weekend (I’m …
Great political comics (No1) Judge Dredd – America
Published on 2011-04-28 11:46:28
America starts with a monologue from Judge Dredd that pretty much sums up the character: “Where do I stand? I’ll tell you where I stand. I stand four-square for justice. I stand for discipline , good order and the rigid … Continue r
Great scenes from political movies (No4) The ending of WarGames
Published on 2011-04-27 11:07:13
As I noted in my review of Missile Command, there was a trend in the 1980s for combining the fear of global nuclear war with video games. The film WarGames does just this. A young Matthew Broderick hacks into NORAD, the system controlling America
Currently under the weather
Published on 2011-04-25 07:14:56
Just a quick blog post to say that I won’t be updating the blog until Wednesday. Partly this is because the university is closed today and tomorrow but also because I’m currently under the weather and not feeling very well … Continu
Great scenes from political movies (No3) Greed is Good from Wall Street
Published on 2011-04-21 10:31:43
Can three little words really sum up ten years? Possibly not, but you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve heard the 1980s being described as the ‘Greed is good’ decade. In a short scene from the Oliver Stone movie Wall …
Political predictions they got wrong (No17) Condi vs Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race
Published on 2011-04-19 12:28:25
Dick Morris has had quite a strange career by anyones standards. Despite being a lifelong Republican he was also a friend and advisor to Bill Clinton, helping him to win two terms in office. He spent most of the 1990s working … Continue readin
Great political movies (No26) Twelve Angry Men
Published on 2011-04-18 10:47:51
I was going to be reviewing Syriana today, but changed my mind for two reasons. One was that I suddenly realised I hadn’t looked at any older films in a while, and the second was that I wanted to watch something by the … Continue readi
Great mistakes in politics (No20) – Margaret Thatcher and the Poll Tax
Published on 2011-04-16 04:30:54
In retrospect Margaret Thatcher should probably have come unstuck sooner. By the end of the 1980s she’d been in power for a decade and somehow managed to become the most polarizing figure in Britain. Some saw her as the greatest Prime …
The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Alternative Vot
Published on 2011-04-15 07:46:49
This month my university Nottingham Trent, is running a blog dedicated to the upcoming referendum on AV, and every Friday on here I provide links to this weeks articles. This week the blog examined what AV was along with it’s advantages and &
Great political documentaries (No7) Outfoxed
Published on 2011-04-14 13:20:30
My biggest problem with Fox News can be summed up in three words, “Fair and Balanced”. I don’t mind the fact that they’re right-wing. I don’t mind that their journalism often strays into rumour and speculation. I could
Great scenes from political movies (No2) The montage from The Parallax View
Published on 2011-04-13 12:06:22
The Parallax View is one of those films I find easy to admire but hard to like. As political thrillers go it’s pretty decent but somewhere along the line it gets bogged down in conspiracy theory paranoia. If you do want … Continue readin
Political predictions they got wrong (No16) Prosperity: The Coming 20 Year Boom
Published on 2011-04-12 12:32:34
People make predictions for many different reasons, but the one thing they always have in common is that they tend towards the extreme. Futurologists are either convinced that the world is about to come to an end, or that we’re just on the
Ten great political movies
Published on 2011-04-12 10:30:19
Every so often I like to gather up a bunch of blog posts together under one heading. Today it’s ten political movies that I’d highly recommend. They cover a wide range of topics and themes including war, conflict, colonialism and …
Great political movies (No25) Green Zone
Published on 2011-04-11 13:21:36
Green Zone came in for a lot of criticism when it was first released, most of which I think was unfair. While the film does have it’s faults, which I’ll come to later, it’s actually a fairly intelligent political thriller … Co
What are the big questions in the phone hacking scandal?
Published on 2011-04-10 05:57:29
News International’s announcement that there was widespread phone hacking at the News of the World shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. More and more celebrities had started legal proceedings against the organisation and Murdoch̵
Great mistakes in politics (No19) – Joe Clark decides to raise taxes
Published on 2011-04-08 13:55:40
It’s often difficult for politicians to deliver on their promises. Either events conspire against them, or they just decide that it would be more advantageous to do something different and hope that the public don’t notice. Depressingly t
Alternative Vote referendum blog
Published on 2011-04-08 06:27:28
For the next month my university Nottingham Trent is running a referendum blog on the Alternative Vote. Here is a selection of articles that were posted this week: Why are we having a referendum? by Dr Matthew Ashton What is … Continue reading
Great political poems (No6) The New Colossus
Published on 2011-04-07 13:34:13
It’s almost impossible to overstate how important symbols are to the American political culture. There’s a huge amount of reverence for things like the Constitution, the flag and the pledge of allegiance that you simply don’t get
Political predictions they got wrong (No15) Weapons of Mass Destruction
Published on 2011-04-06 14:25:29
We invaded Iraq in 2003 based on the idea that Saddam Hussein had ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ and that he was gearing up to use them against us. The whole Bush Doctrine was centered around the idea of attack as a form of pre-emptiv
It’s Obama versus Who?
Published on 2011-04-05 10:52:54
Well Obama has announced that he’s running again for President; no surprises there. However the big question is still ‘who is he going to be running against’? At the beginning of the year I wrote a few pieces for my blog … Co
Great political movies (No24) Defence of the Realm
Published on 2011-04-04 08:13:42
The 1980s were a golden age for paranoid conspiracy thrillers, especially in Britain. While America responded to the heating up of the Cold War with jingoistic fare like Rambo, Red Dawn and Rocky IV, Britain tended to turn inwards, looking for the
Matthew Ashton media appearances
Published on 2011-04-04 05:36:32
I’ve been quite busy today with the media, so thought I’d mention it briefly on here. I was on BBC Radio Nottingham this morning being interviewed by Andy Whittaker about the Alternative Vote Referendum. A link to the interview on …
Voting Reform Explained
Published on 2011-04-01 06:51:39
Nottingham Trent University is running a blog for the next month looking at the national referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV). The referendum is being held on May the 5th across the UK and could potentially have a huge impact … Continue read
Great political documentaries (No6) The Most Dangerous Man in America
Published on 2011-03-31 13:47:28
Secrecy can be a powerful thing. Occasionally there is a valid case for governments to keep things from their citizens. For instance issues relating to national security. However, sometimes the people need to know what’s going on, in order to
Political Computer Games (No4) Tropico
Published on 2011-03-30 12:04:27
One of the great things about computer games is that you get to do things that you’d never be able to experience in real life. In the case of Tropico, this means being the leader of a small Caribbean island during the … Continue reading
Political predictions they got wrong (No14) Lord Beaverbrook predicts peace
Published on 2011-03-29 14:16:32
Predictions made during wartime can be particularly tricky. Few situations are as fluid and changeable as war, and what might have seemed like a sure-fire certainty one minute can quickly become a huge disaster the next. That’s why so many peo
Great political movies (No23) Nixon
Published on 2011-03-28 11:22:49
“When people look at you they see what they want to be, when they look at me they see what they are”. As a one-liner it’s hard to beat and pretty much sums up the appeal of the whole movie for … Continue reading →
Great mistakes in politics (No18) – John Major goes ‘Back to basics’
Published on 2011-03-25 13:25:57
Sometimes governments go through rough patches when more things seem to go wrong than right. Their policies don’t produce results, they are beset by scandals and the press start attacking them for sport. This has happened to every administrati
Great political TV series (No5) Spiral (Engrenages)
Published on 2011-03-24 14:46:48
You can usually find out a lot about the politics of a society by looking at what it’s scared of. In my experience one of the best places to observe this is by watching the cop shows it produces. They’re also often a surprisingly good gu
Political advertising (No6) Morning in America
Published on 2011-03-23 14:47:13
One of the interesting things I’ve noticed when analysing adverts for this blog, is how many attack ads have been produced over the past fifty years or so. Most are unremittingly bleak in tone, emphasising the negative side of politics. Howeve
Political predictions they got wrong (No13) Joan Robinson praises communism
Published on 2011-03-22 14:36:09
I don’t trust intellectuals. Now, let me clarify that statement before I get into trouble. I’m not saying that intellectuals are idiots, clearly some of them are incredibly clever and have enriched our lives in a million different ways. H
Great political movies (No22) A Prophet
Published on 2011-03-21 15:50:36
One of the things I love about politics is that it can be applied to almost every level and aspect of society. Far too often people assume that politics is merely about the institutions of government, rather than something that touches on … C
Great mistakes in politics (No17) Dan Quayle compares himself to JFK
Published on 2011-03-18 13:12:51
A standard trick in political campaigning is when politicians try to associate themselves with well respected figures. For instance, one of the reasons why politicians like doing events with war veterans is the hope that by appearing next to genui
Great political documentaries (No5) Control Room
Published on 2011-03-17 15:51:36
The first casualty of war is usually….truth?….innocence?….steady camera work? One of the big questions faced by all reporters is how to do their jobs properly during conflicts, especially if it involves their own country. Standard o
Political Computer Games (No3) Deus Ex
Published on 2011-03-16 15:55:39
One of the biggest trends of the 1990s was the boom in conspiracy theories. Fuelled in part by the success of the X-Files on TV and the growth of the world-wide web, people began to become obsessed with the idea … Continue reading →
Political predictions they got wrong (No12) The Team B Report
Published on 2011-03-15 15:41:29
The spywriter John Le Carre once commented on the intelligence community, “If you live in secrecy, you think in secrecy. It is the very nature of the life you lead as an intelligence officer in a secret room that the ordinary winds … Co
Great political movies (No21) The Quiet American
Published on 2011-03-14 16:02:33
Brendan Fraser is a good actor who has a habit of appearing in the most appalling films. With the exception of this and Gods and Monsters, his record of choosing lead roles has been pretty patchy to say the least. Luckily he … Continue readin
Great mistakes in politics (No16) Michael Howard’s interview with Jeremy Paxman
Published on 2011-03-11 15:01:50
Everybody in Britain remembers this one as it was repeated on every satirical news programme for years afterwards. One of the biggest complaints I often hear about politicians is that they don’t answer questions during interviews. Sometimes the
Great political poems (No5) The Silesian Weavers
Published on 2011-03-10 14:36:12
Today Heinrich Heine is probably best known for his prediction, “Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings”. Personally I’ve always preferred his slightly more lighthearted comment, ”We should fo
Great political movies (No20) Waltz with Bashir
Published on 2011-03-09 10:44:56
Can it really be almost thirty years since the war in Lebanon? It doesn’t seem that long, but certainly enough time has passed for it to be forgotten by some. I’m sure if I asked my students tomorrow they’d have no idea … Co
Political predictions they got wrong (No11) Bush predicts Mission Accomplished
Published on 2011-03-08 13:43:25
One thing the US government has often been very good at, is stage managing the news. From embedding journalists in Iraq to carefully timing the release of documents, they’ve really tried hard in recent years to craft the news agenda … Con
What are our options in Libya?
Published on 2011-03-08 05:22:02
The situation in Libya is currently spiralling out of control. At the moment it seems to be on the brink between uprising and full on civil war. This leaves the west, and in particular the United States, in a quandary as to what to do … Co
Why Newt Gingrich is unlikely to win the Republican nomination
Published on 2011-03-07 06:49:28
I don’t think I can remember an election when the field of potential Presidential candidates was as wide open as this one. There are still twelve or so people who could throw their hat into the ring, but everybody seems to … Continue rea
Great mistakes in politics (No15) Walter Mondale tells the truth about taxes
Published on 2011-03-04 13:07:05
This week’s example is slightly controversial as it implies that telling the truth is a political mistake. In this case it probably was, as it spectacularly backfired and damaged Walter Mondale’s chances of winning the US Presidency. In
The Liberal Democrat result in the Barnsley by-election
Published on 2011-03-04 07:36:05
Last nights by-election result in Barnsley shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. The victory of Dan Jarvis was a forgone conclusion as Barnsley has been a safe Labour seat for years, and short of a minor miracle he always going to
Great political poems (No4) The Second Coming
Published on 2011-03-03 14:30:12
While the first World War was easily one of the worst events of the 20th century, it also inspired some its greatest art. Writers like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon are justly praised for their poems describing the horrors of combat. W.B Y
Ten mistaken political predictions
Published on 2011-03-02 11:43:45
Every so often I like to gather up a bunch of columns written on here into one blog entry. Today is a full list of columns I’ve written about political predictions that turned out to be wrong. When I first started writing … Continue rea
Political predictions they got wrong (No10) The economic stability of Iceland
Published on 2011-03-01 11:46:28
Yesterday I praised the political documentary Inside Job, that explained in detail the causes behind the 2008 global financial crash. This example is from that film and seemed a perfect case of academic predictions gone wrong. One of the places wor
Great political documentaries (No4) Inside Job
Published on 2011-02-28 11:29:22
As someone once said, “We laugh that we may not cry”. I certainly got that feeling when watching the documentary Inside Job. I saw it in a reasonably full cinema and in some places people where laughing almost hysterically at the disto
Great mistakes in politics (No14) The media announces the 2000 election result early
Published on 2011-02-25 13:42:23
One advantage of new technology is that we now receive the news much more quickly than in the past. Events are reported almost as soon as they happen, and are beamed all over the planet thanks to satellites and the … Continue reading →
Political Computer Games (No2) Bioshock
Published on 2011-02-24 13:10:00
Computer games have a habit of featuring fictional utopias that have gone horribly wrong, most probably because it gives gamers a great excuse to run around shooting things. Bioshock’s underwater city of Rapture is one of the best examples
Great political documentaries (No3) Burma VJ
Published on 2011-02-23 14:53:47
Technology has had a huge impact on the way that media organisations gather and report news. For instance the development of the internet has meant that vast amounts of data is now available at the click of a mouse. Equally we … Continue readi
Political predictions they got wrong (No9) Head to Head: The coming economic battle among Japan, Europe and America
Published on 2011-02-22 13:48:43
The collapse of the Soviet Union left many intellectuals and academics scratching their heads trying to figure out what the future would bring. In some cases writers predicted that Liberal Democracy would be triumphant, while other predicted that the
Great political movies (No19) Il Caimano
Published on 2011-02-21 14:49:43
Some of the greatest art of the 20th century has come from people trying to expose corruption and scandal. In my opinion one of the primary functions of art should be critiquing and satirising social, economic and political wrongdoing. As an artist
Blogging in Budapest
Published on 2011-02-21 06:35:18
Ok, confession time. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, I’ve been away from my keyboard and not updated my blog since last Monday. The reason for this is that I’ve been in Budapest for the past week, acting … Continue readi
Great political movies (No18) In the Loop
Published on 2011-02-14 16:30:05
There is a long history in Britain of trying to turn sitcoms into movies and failing miserably. The 1970s seemed by the height of this trend, with adaptations of Dad’s Army, Are you Being Served, Steptoe and Son, Porridge and On the Buses.
Political advertising (No5) Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
Published on 2011-02-13 15:26:04
In the 2004 presidential election, George W Bush faced something of a problem. Thanks partly to the events of 911 and the subsequent Wars on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, he had managed to successfully transform his image from a Texas cowboy to
Great mistakes in politics (No13) Trent Lott praises Strom Thurmond
Published on 2011-02-11 14:22:49
The resignation of Trent Lott is one of the earliest examples of the power of the internet, and the ability of the blogsphere to impact on the national media. In 2002 Trent Lott was the Republican Leader of the Senate, one of … Continue readi
Political Computer Games (No1) Missile Command
Published on 2011-02-10 12:52:36
Missile Command manages to combine two of the biggest cultural trends of the 1980s; video games and the acute fear of an imminent nuclear holocaust. I remember spending most of my childhood absolutely terrified of the threat of war. This was reinfo
Political predictions they got wrong (No8) Igor Panarin predicts the collapse of the USA
Published on 2011-02-08 12:27:39
Political predictions can be based on wishful thinking as much as hard empirical evidence, and sometimes a mixture of both. The latter is probably the case with Igor Panarin’s work. For those of you who don’t know, Panarin is a well kn
Coverage of female football in the UK
Published on 2011-02-08 04:38:40
I just heard on BBC Radio Nottingham this morning that the local women’s football team, Forest Ladies, are in financial difficulties due to a lack of sponsorship. They owe a total of five thousand pounds and it strikes me as … Continue re
Great political movies (No17) Queimada (Burn!)
Published on 2011-02-07 11:37:07
Everyone seems to have seen The Battle of Algiers, which I reviewed last week. However for some reason it’s follow-up, Queimada, better known by its title in the US, ‘Burn!’, is now undeservedly forgotten. The director Gillo Pon
The Politics of Policing
Published on 2011-02-07 06:25:22
Today in the news there have been reports that cuts to police funding of up to 20% will mean a loss of 10,000 workers. This is a considerable figure, and I seriously doubt that the Conservatives are correct when they say … Continue reading
Political advertising (No4) ‘Taliban’ Dan
Published on 2011-02-05 10:11:10
While negative attack advertising has become an accepted part of the current political landscape, Andy Grayson’s 2010 ‘Taliban Dan’ ad is evidence that it doesn’t always work. The advert was part of Florida Congressman An
Ten great political mistakes
Published on 2011-02-05 08:47:15
Every so often I like to collect links for all of my columns covering certain topics together in one post for easier reading. This is a list of ten great political mistakes. I cover British and American politics mostly but am … Continue readin
Great mistakes in politics (No12) The Spycatcher Affair
Published on 2011-02-04 11:52:47
Banning books is always a tricky business, especially when you live in a supposedly free society. These days banning books on the grounds of taste and decency, or even blasphemy, is almost unheard of. The only area where governments are usually giv
Great political documentaries (No2) Viva Zapatero!
Published on 2011-02-03 13:16:21
In Britain and America we’ve been blessed with an extremely healthy tradition of satire and poking fun at those in power. Every night in prime time you have programmes like Have I got News for you, Mock the Week and … Continue reading
Great political non-fiction books (No3) Voodoo Histories by David Aaronovitch
Published on 2011-02-02 11:21:39
As the great writer G.K Chesterton once commented, “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in anything”. If the 20th century marked the decline of organised religion, it also saw p
Political predictions they got wrong (No7) Edward Luttwak predicts Soviet success in Afghanistan
Published on 2011-02-01 11:46:54
As I’ve noted before in these columns, academic predictions about the activities of the Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s were more often wrong than right. Partly this reflected the fact that as a highly secretive nation, the Soviets didn̵
Great political poems (No3) The Revolution Will Not be Televised
Published on 2011-02-01 05:57:33
For the past couple of nights I’ve been staying up late watching the protests in Egypt, live on Al Jazeera. As I watched various cities go up in flames I was both fascinated and appalled. It reminded me in some ways of the … Continue r
Great Political Movies (No16) The Battle of Algiers
Published on 2011-01-31 13:53:13
It’s long been accepted that history is written by the winners. However in reality, more often than not, the film version of events is the only one people really pay attention to, and that is dictated more by commercial values and Hollywoo
The Egyptian Crisis and the Kirkpatrick Doctrine revisited
Published on 2011-01-31 05:46:33
As the Egyptian protests continue one of the big questions everybody has been asking is how will the US react to these developments? As I stated in my post yesterday, the USA is unlikely to favour any overt intervention for fear … Continue rea
What are Mubarak’s options?
Published on 2011-01-30 13:57:18
As the protests continue for another day, the world is increasingly focussing on the question of whether Mubarak, Egypt’s battered leader can survive. This is my analysis of what options are available to him and how viable they are: 1) Crack
Political Advertising (No3) ‘Wrong for our Future’
Published on 2011-01-29 10:48:55
I recently had a discussion with a student where I tried to prove my point by quoting various ‘facts’ at him. “Oh” he said dismissively, “you can prove anything with facts”. Sadly he’s probably right, with
Great mistakes in politics (No11) Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 Presidential Campaign
Published on 2011-01-28 10:55:24
Initially at least Rudy Giuliani looked like a pretty good bet in the run up to the Republican primaries of 2008. He had fantastic name recognition across the United States and thanks to his leadership as Mayor of New York city during the event
Civil disobedience and popular protest in North Africa
Published on 2011-01-27 07:29:33
Victor Hugo once said that there is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come. Alan Moore stated that people shouldn’t be afraid of their governments but governments should be afraid of their people. Leaders of various North African
Political predictions they got wrong (No5) The Great Depression of 1990
Published on 2011-01-26 09:50:54
Professor Ravi Batra is an almost perfect example of the fact that if you keep making predictions long enough, eventually some of them will come true. He’s been predicting a new great depression for the best part of the last forty years ̷
15 great political films
Published on 2011-01-25 13:50:51
I just noticed today that I’d posted my fifteenth political film review so thought I’d do a quick post listing all the reviews so far along with links. No1 – Network (1976) N02 – Reds (1980) N03 - Z (1969) No … Continue
Bad news for the British economy
Published on 2011-01-25 10:17:31
Well the latest ONS (Office for National Statistics) figures are just out and they make gloomy reading. The British economy contracted by 0.5% over the last quarter from October to December. These figures are worse than anyone was predicting, indeed
Great political movies (No15) – Fear and loathing in Las Vegas
Published on 2011-01-25 08:40:25
“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold…” And so begins Hunter S Thompsons classic nightmare journey into the heart of the American dream, as he and his lawyer go … Continu
Increasing voter turnout for 2012
Published on 2011-01-24 05:44:14
One of the big questions that’s been occupying me recently is what will happen to voter turnout in 2012? America, like most democracies in recent years, has shown a worrying decline in the number of people willing to come out … Continue r
Political Advertising (No2) ‘I like Ike’
Published on 2011-01-22 09:55:47
Political advertising has really changed the landscape of American politics in recent years, and not necessarily for the better. Today television is dominated by a thousand different attack ads as politicians scramble to show each other in the w
Matthew Ashton on BBC Radio Nottingham
Published on 2011-01-21 15:01:00
I was on BBC Radio Nottingham this morning talking about Alan Johnson’s resignation. I was interviewed at 7:10 in the morning so hopefully I sound ok. I appear at around the 1:12 mark and it should be available online for … Continue readi
Andy Coulson’s resigns as Cameron’s Communication Chief
Published on 2011-01-21 07:43:04
You wait ages for one resignation and then two come along at once. I’d just finished writing my blog posting on Alan Johnson’s resignation when I saw on the news that Andy Coulson had just decided to resign as well. This … Continue
Alan Johnson’s resignation
Published on 2011-01-21 07:22:01
Alan Johnson yesterday resigned from his role as Shadow Chancellor citing ‘personal reasons’ in his letter to Ed Miliband. When a politician claims they’ve resigned for ‘personal reasons’ there are several interpretatio
Great political movies (No14) Good night, and good luck
Published on 2011-01-20 08:08:40
Whenever I want to show my students what good journalism looks like I always recommend that they watch Good night, and good luck. It dramatizes the showdown between Ed Murrow, legendary newsman and reporter at CBS and Senator Joseph McCarthy. In
Great scenes from political movies (No1) How To Get Ahead in Advertising
Published on 2011-01-17 06:43:17
This new occasional column is meant to be separate from my ‘Great Political Movies’ series, as it recently occurred to me that there are lots of political films that I wouldn’t include in the former list but do contain some amazin
Great mistakes in politics (No10) Joe Biden steals Neil Kinnock’s speech
Published on 2011-01-14 12:34:48
It’s actually fairly rare for politicians in the 21st Century to write their own speeches. They might contribute a line here or there, but as anyone who’s seen the West Wing knows, they employ teams of high gifted professional writers to
The Oldham East by-election
Published on 2011-01-12 07:50:42
Tomorrow will be the Oldham East by-election. A by-election less than a year after a general election would be unusual, in and of itself, but this one is generating even more media interest than normal for a couple of reasons: The … Continue r
In defence of radio
Published on 2011-01-12 06:53:32
After my blog posting yesterday reviewing Oliver Stone’s Talk Radio, a few of my students told me that radio was fast becoming an obsolete medium and would be swept away in the next few years by TV and the internet. … Continue reading