"The only guarantor of independence [in journalism] is profit."

I am so repulsed by this statement by James Murdoch (following in his father's footsteps in gunning for the "state-sponsored" BBC), but couldn't think of a way to riposte, until now.

All I can say is, if the BBC is so "sinister" and state-funded, how come his sniping lecture has received such excellent coverage on the BBC? Would he have received anything like as much coverage on the News International channels, had he been a jealous BBC executive talking about Sky News?

Shamefully, many of the newspapers (even the non-Murdoch owned ones) have also rubbed their hands in anticipation at this speech, all jealous of the BBC's online news service that is funded through the license fee - which I fear will become obsolete in the years to come.

The day we lose good news through market forces, is the day we begin to lose our freedom.

Ashes to Ashes

20 years ago in 1989, I lay upstairs in bed asleep whilst Australia regained the Ashes, winning the Fourth Test at Old Trafford. The reason for my convalescence that afternoon was that I was working for British Telecom at the time, on the night shift for their communications computer department (as part of a work placement at college that summer).

20 years later, on another warm August afternoon, I lay on that same bed, as it seemed to be the only sensible place to be, having sat in the sun for the last four days at another cricket match (between Essex and Surrey at Castle Park). What with all that was going on at The Oval in the Fifth Test, to have walked away from the radio this afternoon would have been hazardous, especially if I'd missed anything.

So I lay there, whilst Strauss, Broad, Swann, Flintoff and Co. finally saw off the battling Australians to win the Ashes in a highly charged atmosphere. A small note might be made here, amongst the euphoria of English victory, for the very well behaved Australian contingent of fans throughout the summer - four years ago in 2005 the Aussies thought to bring over their own answer to England's "Barmy Army" which was raucous and just a little annoying - this year however their band of travelling faithful were very well behaved, appreciative and supportive of their team, and a credit to their country. I'm only sorry for them that they came all this way to end in defeat.

But going back to that day in August 1989 brought back some poignant memories (see also Batman blog), and overlooking other Ashes series wins since then, such as the miracle of 2005, this Sunday afternoon was a conclusive case of what goes around also comes around.


"When we were bad we were very very bad, when we were good we were good enough."
- Andrew Strauss, England captain.

Bobby's beat

I could eulogise about his glory years as arguably England and Ipswich Town's greatest manager (although there's someone called Ramsey whom could also lay claim to that), but my one quintessential image I have of Bobby Robson is sitting on the bench at the 1990 World Cup Semi-Final against West Germany, and the look of apoplectic regret as he witnessed his side just being edged out of the competition on penalties, and the denial of the chance for revenge against Argentina in the Final. In a very British way, that summed up the man and his no-nonsense love of football and love of life.

In one of those "remember where you were when you heard the news" moments, I sat at work today and saw the news that Sir Bobby had died after his long battle with cancer, and instinctively looked out through the window with that same expression of apoplectic acceptance of his in 1990.

We Will Remember Them

The last survivor of the First World War in Britain has died (see article). Now an entire generation of this nation's finest has truly given its life for future generations.

War is still War

It's sad but perhaps vilifying to hear that Britain has now lost more troops in the war in Afghanistan than in Iraq. If only because, in the first place, the war against terror was against the Taliban and not Saddam Hussain.

The failure of the Soviet Union to conquer the area (after nearly a decade of trying) is a telling reminder of the difficult job still in hand - it should also be noted that the Afghans received American support in that particular struggle.

Happy July 4th America

For the first time since September 11th 2001, the Statue of Liberty is fully open to the public once again.

Where engines go to die

A recent sad sight at Ipswich railway station just lately had been an old class 47 diesel engine, that was in too bad a condition to be moved away from the sidings, so it had become something of a permanent fixture.

Finally however the engineers came along to attach it to a carrier, and trundled it off to Felixstowe where it was then taken to be scrapped. Here's some pictures of it being sent on its final journey:

www.milepost91.co.uk/47370-leaves-ipswich