The Times provides an interesting twist on a posting I made lask week relating to the BBC’s impartiality when covering the Iraq war. BBC Director General Greg Dyke had insisted, in a speech made at Goldsmiths’ College, that when reporting from Baghdad Rageh Omaar was in no way influenced by the Iraqi regime and, from [...]

Anyone who ever questioned the way Greg Dyke was running the BBC would do well to read his analysis of how British and American media covered the Iraq war. He closes a stinging criticism of American media with the comment that ‘If Iraq proved anything, it was that the BBC cannot afford to mix patriotism [...]

In my last entry I said I hoped the British and American forces would let their actions speak for themselves and reassure the Arab world. Acts of sheer stupidity such as the draping of the American flag on the landmarks of Baghdad, will do nothing to further that cause.

What a strange day. No moreso than for the people of Baghdad, of course, who today have been pulling down the statues of Saddam Hussein throughout their city.
The war isn’t over, of course, but it’s widely accepted that Saddam’s regime has come to an end. The Iraqi ambassador to the UN has said the ‘game’ [...]

For years London Underground has been filling the gaps between the ads on its tube trains with poems. Every so often they collect them into a book which is sold in every bookshop in the city.
This morning, riding the Jubilee Line from Stratford, I came across a new one. It had been left anonymous, and [...]

Sky News quoted over on Learning to Fly
“Umm Qasr is a city similar to Southampton,” UK defence minister Geoff Hoon said in The Commons yesterday.
“He’s either never been to Southampton, or he’s never been to Umm Qasr” says a British squaddie patrolling Umm Qasr. Another soldier added: “There’s no beer, no prostitutes and people are [...]

Who is looking after Eddie while Martin Crane is out in the Gulf?

above left: Martin Crane, from popular TV show Frasier
above right: General Tommy Franks, commander of the allied troops in the Gulf

America says it may have killed Saddam with its bombs last night, and that the man seen talking on TV this morning was perhaps a double. Israel says it is sure that the man seen on TV genuinely was Saddam Hussein and that the strike failed.
It seems nobody really knows, and I’m undecided either way. [...]

I feel I’m being overshadowed by my hair. Not literally, of course. There’s not enough of it there to do that. Not since Friday. Since taking to it with the clippers and strimming it down to a narrow mohawk it’s the first thing peoples eyes rise to. It keeps the seat oppostie me on the [...]

The Tehran Times (Iranian newspaper) has contributed to the current raft of speculation over what is (or isn’t) going on inside (and outside) or Iraq as it braces itself for possible attack. On its site today:
It seems that Saddam is clutching at every straw to survive. In his latest move to stay in power, Saddam [...]