@druidh – re Olympics .. I work in central London, we had announcements on the train for about a month advising us to change our travel plans (hidden message don’t travel). Pretty much everyone I know who needed to come to London on businesses avoided booking a trip during the games. We were asked to consider working from home. In the end it was all marvellous, the trains, tubes and shops had never been so quiet !

This. I touched on this above, but it’s a very good point. Twitter is what you make of it, if you think that it’s full of comments like “JUST HAVIN A CRAP LOL” then the issue there isn’t the media, it’s that your friends are retards. Its immediacy and reach is pretty much unique, and I find it to be an invaluable resource (as well as a convenient way of keeping in touch with friends).

It’s also full of insightful comments like “Been invited to a presentation about the Bribery Act. Replied asking them to make it worth my while.”

🙂

Generally don’t give a shyte as its largely b0llocks.

Don’t read the paper but OH gets the Daily Fail and starts reading shyte stories out.

partly because you can never truly get away from things short of going and living in a tree

That seems like a really good idea at the moment.

The problem with getting news from social media/friends if you get a very narrow minded version of the news.

e.g. if you were in the BNP and all your twitter feeds were BNP/NF/EDL then you could be forgiven for thinking everyone thought the same as you and the news revolved arround fachism and racism. A straw man argument I’ll agree, but it’s a good example of Plato’s Cave.

Plenty of worthwhile news going on every day, take the Landless Marches in India, barely makes the news here, but it and the reasons behind it still makes an interesting read*.

*I presume, only found a snippet and the full article was blocked form work.

It’s also full of insightful comments like “Been invited to a presentation about the Bribery Act. Replied asking them to make it worth my while.”

That’s comic genius that is, I wonder which Swiftian-like rapier wit came up with that gem? I bet he’s a big hit with the ladies.

Actually, I thought that was interesting! Space tourist to the ISS? Amazing.

Should that not be totes amazeballs?

Re the psychopath link from bwaarp, Ron Johnsons bookthe psychopath test` kind of turns that around (and an excellent read!)

I reckon living in a cave would be cool(in a warm climate)insulated from the crap on the airwaves.

I haven`t bought a newspaper for years (10+) and finally pulled the aerial out of the tv last christmas after being subjected to mindless game shows, reality shows, repeats and bs news etc.
Its so much more peaceful/less chaotic in the home now, dont miss it. (oh, except I do occasionally put it back on to watch f1, but sky have done a good job of weaning me off that fix)

Still keep up to date (ish) with whats relevant to where we live and what were interested in by internet, and also talking with people.

Should that not be totes amazeballs?

Maybe if I was 30 years younger. I can only type like I speak though 🙂

Ron Johnsons

8)

I am interested in “The World”/”News”/”Current Affairs”, but….

Dickyboy – Member

Every single news worthy article that I have had first hand knowledge of has been factually incorrect – and that’s the simple facts before any news hound even starts to put a twist on it.

…my wife and I have both noticed the same thing in ‘news’ reports about subjects that either of us know something about….

I suspect that other stories could also contain the occasional inaccuracy….

I take all news with a pinch-of-salt/healthy scepticism, even from the Today programme and The World Tonight.

From what I’ve seen, 24hr news is mostly (frequently-repeated) garbage. It must be a struggle to fill the time. I really do wonder why the broadcasters bother with it.

The BBC TV 6/9 o’clock news appears to have ‘dumbed-down’ -I used to prefer watching Channel 4 News, although I rarely watch TV news these days.

couldn’t give a monkeys.. I didn’t watch TV or read a paper for well over a decade in my 20s and 30s, and I get all my current affairs news from STW these days..

and do you know what.. abso-frickin-lutely none of it is of any consequence, none of it is any of my business and none of it is worth having an opinion on..

I guess that it’s quite interesting to learn about other people from their reactions to it all though..