The Trick tells the story of how the work of Philip Jones and CRU on the effect of climate change on global temperatures was stolen in a cyber terrorist attack in 2009, three weeks before the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen. While the script is weak at times, with some bland dialogue and direction, the performances…
TV
Political Bias on our TV networks
It’s hard these days to escape bias. Whether in news reports, television shows, anything you watch will be written by someone who has a stance on what they’re writing about and it’s hard to leave that outside. Often, it’s subtle and unnoticed by the audience but even when an opinion is obvious, it may not…
Arts, Climate Change
“It’s moved from a problem for the next generation to a problem for right now and we’re not ready for it”: UEA Professor and playwright Steve Waters reflects on his work on climate change
Steve Waters’ ‘The Secret Life of Plays’ became a staple of my bedside table reading stack before coming to university. Renowned as “the place where literature lives”, UEA has seen the birth of countless award-winning works of fiction, poetry, and drama, with a collection of critically acclaimed professors to match. Described as “one of the…
Features
Radio saved me during lockdown
The pandemic has helped loneliness mutate into a pandemic of its own. Isolating has become a normalised part of our lives, especially with the aftermath of the dreaded ping looming around all of us. We have become used to not seeing those we care about. Many have grown used to the loneliness that isolating brings….
Film, Venue
Don’t Scare Us With Your Covid Dramas
In the world of corporate enterprise, problems normally arise when demand lessens and spending tightens. And yet for the film industry, the problem is rather the opposite. Lockdown has created more space in our days to binge watch high end films and television shows. With restrictions on socialising, many of us have more time on…
Books
2021’s Summer of Love: What Nancy Mitford Can Teach Us About Our Endless Pursuit of Love?
“Love is fatal for a woman”. As talking heads everywhere predicted a post-Covid “Summer of Love” and the BBC’s adaption of ‘The Pursuit of Love’ came out on TV, I found myself asking: just what can Nancy Mitford’s classic teach us about our endless obsession with the intoxicating pursuit of romantic love? The novel follows…
Features
The Positive Power of Youtubers
The BBC does most things well. My father is a proud lifelong employee having travelled the globe on behalf of the public broadcaster. But the newly released documentary “The Restaurant That Burns Off Calories” – featuring actress Zoe Williams and chef Fred Sirieix – embodies everything wrong about our values as well as the organisations…
TV, Venue
Watching Trigonometry as a polyamorous person
Trigonometry, the BBC polyamory drama, not the mathematical concept, was always going to mean a lot to me regardless of its overall quality. But as surprisingly powerful as representation can be, a show must be more than just the words ‘relationships with more than two people are a thing’ on the screen for 40ish minutes…
News
Universities accused of ‘silencing’ students
Up to a third of UK universities have used ‘gagging’ clauses to prevent their students going public with complaints ranging from sexual assault, to poor teaching since 2016, according to research done by BBC. Students have felt pressured into signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), a move which Universities UK, an organisation which represents 136 higher education…
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