Obviously, for Guardian Media Group, the end justifies the means. Having milked the Manchester Evening News cashcow for decades, they discard it before losses are even posted, and with a brief cursory mention of the sale in the Guardian. So long & thanks for all the fish, indeed. Leave a comment

I actually can't remember the last time I bought an album of new music, as in music recorded in the last twelve months. But today I bought three: Skanky Skanky by Toddla T, Guns Don't Kill... by Major Lazer and... ok actually I haven't bought the third yet; I'm torn between Sa-Ra's Nuclear Evolution, Tune-Yards' Bird Brains and The Very Best's Warm ( Read more... )

From the title, I thought that "Waiting for the second coming - of Prince Philip" in today's Independent might be a quirky little news item taking the piss out of the notorious old maid fiddler, but no, it's an article about Black people worshipping White people. God, I thought that stories like this died out with Mother Teresa ( Read more... )

Anglicans and Catholics bickering sound like Trekkies arguing over the exact episode when Spock kissed Kirk. Or Socialist Workers coming to blows over whether Marx stirred his coffee clockwise or anti. I just stumbled across a choice Guardian blog on the Anglican/Catholic rift. Reading the comments is like walking through a hall of mirrors.

Just watched the first episode of the new series of ‘Being Human‘, one of my favourite TV dramas from last year and, well, I was very disappointed. Could it be that series 1 set too high a creative threshold? I hope not ( Read more... )

According to a new IoS Investigation, government departments waste money, lots of it. Well, duh! Is that big news to anyone? After the MPs expenses scandal, the accountability bug has gripped Britain, so I guess the IoS editors scent easy blood on the wounded Brownbeast ( Read more... )

Ok, I admit that, as a half Nigerian British writer, I have made fun of many Nigerian cliches in my plays and in social life, because, hey, there are plenty of things to laugh about in Nigerian culture, as in any culture. Still, I'm starting to notice a disturbing trend in humour about my father's people. Jokes about Nigerian conmen and crooks are ( Read more... )

Snow in Manchester! Cold toes waiting for the bus for 45 minutes! Tried calling Stagecoach Helpline, but hung up after 5 minutes on hold on a premium rate number. Stagecoach suck donkeys ( Read more... )

I've got a friend. Not a very close friend, but someone I've known for fifteen years through my Kung Fu club. A very gentle, gregarious guy with a very sharp scatological wit. He's also a Buddhist and we've been on many visits together to a monastery in Scotland ( Read more... )

In response to the Supreme Court's crafty legal legerdemain on bank charges, I present two contrasting opinions.

In the blue corner, the Independent's economics editor Sean O Grady pens an unexpected paean to that haven of free market capitalism, the UK consumer banking system:

seanogrady.independentminds.livejournal.com/17081.htmlAnd in the ( Read more... )