FIVE PILLARS update

Most of those that know me and follow my film-making will know that my debut film FIVE PILLARS had it’s first UK screening last weekend. I’ve made some changes to the FIVE PILLARS page on this blog (you can find it under the FEATURES tab along the top) including adding the official trailer to the […]

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Labour’s Lost Leader

As I recall it was a grey and dismal morning when the news broke that the Labour Party leader John Smith had had a heart attack at his London home early morning on 12th May 1994. I was very actively involved in politics at a student level at the time – a Labour party member, […]

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The Elephant In The Room

There’s been a mix of political soul searching and a fair degree of “I told you so” here in Rotherham in the past week. Both of the traditional parties, but mostly Labour, suffered an ignominious hammering at the hands of the voters, the chief beneficiary being UKIP. There’s been some recrimination too, which is to […]

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The Mountain and The Viper

Game of Thrones is known for surprising and shocking audiences but I felt that last night’s episode was the very worst example of crass exploitation I’d seen in the series to date. Not only was visually representing The Viper’s death on screen and in full gory glory unnecessarily graphic it felt that the show’s runners […]

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Rotherham and the macho political culture that led to ignorance and denial about child abuse

The child sex exploitation report produced by Alexis Jay in Rotherham last week opens a massive can of worms into wilful ignorance, human trafficking and corrupt practices at a range of public bodies and organisations across the town. Council leader Roger Stone has resigned, South Yorkshire Police have issues apologies and there has been pressure […]

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Tick box culture and a dispersal of responsibility

Interesting for me in watching the Rotherham child sex scandal unfold is how council officers, councillors and other individuals disseminate from any sense of responsibility or accountability for their actions or failure to act. The process of deaing with issues such as child protection, abuse accusations and investigations, has become as functional a process as […]

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DEBUNK – “Crazy Buckingham Palace naked man video!!!”

I often spend a lot of time on line in various forums encouraging the use of critical thinking and rationality, but I have to admit, even I was taken in momentarily by a video purporting to show a naked man climbing and then falling out of a window from one of the upper floors at […]

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DEBUNK COMPLETE: Moor Park Mansion WAS the location used in the naked man/Buckingham Palace video

Thanks to D-Throned on Twitter for letting me know that the additional footage is actually a viral video and part of the latest episode of E! Online’s TV series The Royals. On Saturday evening I posted this debunk of a viral video that claimed to show a naked man escaping from Buckingham Palace. It was pretty comprehensive and garnered […]

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