Members of Leeds Conservative Future will be meeting people on the steps in front of the Civic Hall just before 3.00pm . It will be an informal event which means there is no dress code. It is an event where people attending will get to meet Lord Trimble and ask questions.

This is an excellent opportunity to talk to an experienced politician who in his time has been involved in peace talks in Northern Ireland where he received a Nobel Peace prize for his work in 1998. He is now a conservative peer in the House of Lords, where his expertise in areas such as foreign policy are valued.

As a student on the BA (HONS) journalism course at Edinburgh Napier University, we frequently have the opportunity to meet some of the great names in our field.

This month we have had the opportunity to listen and talk to three of the most inspiring men I have ever spoken to.

Firstly there was Brian Taylor, current BBC Scotland political editor, who has had 52 years of journalistic experience. He gave a talk at the university’s Craighouse campus, followed by a Q and A session.

Mr. Taylor began by introducing himself and outlining some of his many achievements. For him, journalism is about “finding things out and telling folk about them” – something he has clearly mastered the skill of. He maintains, “the only thing you need to be a good journalist is rat like cunning.

His talk centred around the current relationship between politics and journalism: how politics is becoming increasingly detached from day-to-day reality, via its subjection to sensationalism. He highlighted the media’s tendency to over-emphasise the smaller issues around politics, which might provide entertainment, but do not really cover the issues at hand. Significantly he noted that in order to affect a change, we must produce a media which does not require instant gratification and is instead prepared to wait for the real story.

Societies involvement in politics was also an issue for Taylor. Ministers too often act as scapegoats, he feels, when perhaps if a community could come together, they could help themselves.

Journalists also have a profound influence on politics. The way we report on politicians comments impacts upon the comments they make. For example if in one instance a politician is indecisive and is derided for it, the next time they are faced with a decision they may act rashly.

Concluding his talk he mentions that the public now see “politics as a battle between good and evil”. He notes that this perception is the fault of the media and that change is needed in the way we report on the subject. He thinks that “the media should self-regulate” but is aware that “there would still be controversy” – with politics, there always will be.

After the Q and A session, as the lecture theatre emptied, I took a moment to ask why he had got involved with political reporting. He said that he felt it was area which still had “the biggest influence on people’s lives.”  He added, “if it’s done properly.”

Mid-way through the month we travelled as a group to Glasgow, to the Herald and Times Group headquarters. As this is where our tutor Kathleen Morgan used to work as an editor, we were made to feel very much at home. We were shown around the building and introduced to several editors and managers, who were very accommodating and clearly enthusiastic about their workplace.

The main appointment of the day was the “Real Lives” programme that the group have started to encourage prospective journalists into the industry.  The presentation was led by David Pratt, foreign editor of the Sunday Herald.

Mr. Pratt started his career as a freelance photojournalist, after graduating with a degree in fine art from Glasgow’s School of Art. He took a risk and travelled to places like Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Bosnia chasing stories and delivering word-picture packages to British newspapers. After a time, newspapers like the Herald began to commission him to travel and report.

For a spell he worked with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in Bosnia. There his mission was reinstalling journalism in the third world.

He says that foreign correspondent is really a “kings and commoners profession”. He has met all sorts of people from the insignificant (at the time) to world-leaders and even Osama Bin Laden. “That always gets them,” he jokes.

Although his profession does entail many risks, (Pratt himself has been shot at, taken hostage and tortured), he seems to take these trials in his stride. For a foreign correspondent especially, he believes that “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” This quote, from 20th century novelist John Le Carre, focuses on the fact that real experience can’t be achieved from a seated position.

He had some advice for anyone thinking of moving in to the profession. He says it is important for a foreign correspondent to pin a specific area, writing for a relevant audience who will have a great interest in the subject matter.

Multi-skilling is one thing he finds crucial for someone hoping to occupy the role. He is confident that there is a future in this kind of reporting, in gathering news and making it real, but the right person will be a fully trained journalist with a great variety of abilities. Foreign correspondents will always be needed to provide local insights. “No access, no story” – this is Pratt’s number one rule.

Finally, at the end of the month, our class was fortunate enough to be rescheduled to include a talk with Eamonn O’Neill, an experienced investigative journalist. He now lectures journalism at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, having spent 20 years in the field.

O’Neill has worked for major papers and broadcasters across the UK, investigating intelligence issues, crime, terrorism and alleged miscarriages of justice.  He believes that investigative journalism should always provoke a reaction.

Much of his talk was consumed highlighting the facts and figures that govern modern news: a decline in newspaper sales and a rise in sensational stories. He comments on how public relations (PR) has changed the face of journalism. Most comically he presents the fact that what he calls Google “News”, in a 2006 survey, was shown to have drafted 14,000 stories from just 24 real news stories.

He also mentions the “Echo-chamber of Journalism” – the concept that newspapers especially, pander to their readers opinions, securing an audience, rather than challenging their views as real news might. “Real journalism is expensive”, he laments.

The three rules of investigative journalism are simple. According to O’Neill the work must firstly be your own, it must be relevant in a real-world sense and it must contain evidence or material that someone wants to keep hidden – it must “monitor the powerful”.  He notes that these three conditions do away with 90 per cent of all modern journalism.

Carl Bernstein’s rule is also of great importance to him: “Investigative journalism is simply the search for the best obtainable version of the truth.” You can only present the information that you have amassed at any one given time, it can be amended as further research is carried out.

Closing his talk, O’Neill highlights the objectives of investigative journalism. The focus is on challenging and improving the unverified nature of most news, utilising new technologies to make this change. The practice recognises that good journalism can change lives. Journalists who specialise in this area must also be prepared to take risks, in the name of providing “voices for the voiceless and scrutinizing the powerful”.

He points out the difficulties in not coming across as obsessive or impassioned and the need for finding proper answers – essential to the profession.  He comments on the requirement of an editor who is “enthusiastic [and] willing to take a chance”.

In the short Q and A session after his talk I took the opportunity to ask why he himself was attracted to investigative journalism. He replied that it was largely the possibility of providing “social justice”, adding “I’m not a great saint.” He feels that “It was almost like it chose me…not like I chose it.”

He concludes that he has always enjoyed “digging things out” and has a “nack for putting together the bigger picture.” He reminds us that investigative journalism is “not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”

These three, then, have all contributed towards my growing love of journalism, as I warm to the industry in which my future lies. All three men demonstrated fantastic humour and individuality. Perhaps it was this, coupled with a great wealth of experience in many sectors that made meeting them so worthwhile.  However, the most inspiring thing was that I could see elements of my future self in each one of them.

David Bowie’s infamous line in the 1972 song by Mott the Hoople “All the young dudes, carry the news” could be said to have very different connotations today.
The song, according to Bowie, was about the Earth only having five years left before apocalypse and the young people who were bearing this news. The line could now be seen to represent a moniker for journalism.

The industry is in a time of great turmoil and many institutions like the Times newspaper and even the BBC, are in trouble. The circulation of nearly all newspapers in the UK has been in steady decline for the last few years. Television news is also in danger of being superseded by internet sites which offer video playback.

So the question is, who will save journalism and take it on towards its new future? Just as energy never disappears, instead simply changing its form, the youth currently being trained in the creative and therefore highly adaptable art of journalism, will instigate the industry’s revolution.

Therefore it is an interesting time for all concerned with the production of news: not only are the methods of discovery and research changing, but the format in which they are presented.  All the young dudes must now carry “the news” on, not to its conclusion at the end of the world, but to a new beginning and a future for us all.

One of the best decisions I have made since coming to university in September, was joining the writing team at The Journal. The Edinburgh-wide student newspaper is distributed to the 5 main higher-education institutions in the city, with an approximate fortnightly audience of 80,000.

Many of the articles and features I write for the publication will be posted to this blog, so even if you can’t access the newspaper, you can read my current works online, right here.

The main advantages to my early involvement with the newspaper, as I see it, is that after my four-year spell at university, I won’t only have a degree, but a solid portfolio of written work to take forwards.

In an increasingly competitive job market, anything that marks you out as “above average” is advantageous. This portfolio of published work certainly acts as such.

However, more than anything, writing for the paper is fun.  It lends a real depth to the course I am studying and helps you to appreciate the industry I am going into.  Journalism faces a difficult future, that is for certain, but working for The Journal is a great introduction.

Please see the you tube video of the recent Conservative Party Broadcast, if you haven’t seen it already now is your chance to.

The Party Political Broadcast contains details of a significant new policy that will help local residents protect community assets from closure. It is an extremely interesting video clip to watch.

Thankyou to everbody who turned out to the Pub quiz last night. It was a fantastic turnout and its really appreciated from all on the committee.

Well done to those that won the quiz and raffle prizes.

Naveed Qamar PPP, Talha Akbar Bugti and Herbiyar Marri in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Welcome to the clearing house for the up-and-coming twitter account, My Modern World, featuring tales of contemporary living from a disillusioned misanthrope.  We’re a haven for the people who think the world’s gone off the rails and our only available option is to laugh grimly in the face of certain demise.  If that’s you, then subscribe to our twitter feed here.  And feel free to share us with your friends and fake Facebook friends.

Khawaja Saad Rafique PML-N and Qamar Zaman Karia PPP in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

On tuesday November 24th from 7.30 to 10.30 Leeds CF have arranged a fun Pub quiz night, everyone is invited and it is not just for Leeds CF members. The pub quiz is being held at the Packhorse pub, which is near Leeds University.  

The cost per person for this quiz is at the bargain price of £3, this includes a buffet and if your lucky a prize with it  for the best team.

The maximum number of people a team can have is  four. So bring all your friends , for what will be an enjoyable night, with questions covering all topic areas. The Leeds CF committee have come up with the questions and I can guarantee the questions will not be boring.

Also as the committee have written the questions up, we will not be able to join in the pub quiz, and therefore we need as many people  to attend as possible.If you can make it, tell some friends and form a team, the more people the better, because the more people we have the more succesful the event will be.

If you want to go to the pub quiz -just put attend on the facebook events page the link is here:http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?folder=[fb]messages&page=1&tid=1131698903726#/event.php?eid=182946443529&ref=ts

At the pub quiz, there will also be a chance to buy tickets to Leeds CF’s christmas party from the Leeds CF executive. This is a great way to reward yourself after all the hard work you have put in this term. Tickets are £5 and this includes free drinks on entry. if you would like to you can invite friends to come to the christmas party with you, which will be a great event and I urge you not to miss it.

Babar Sattar Advocate, Noor Alam Khan PPP and Anusha Rehman PML-N In fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Mdea, vechile mele obsesii revin. Atunci când nimeresc o melodie lentă şi mi se pune pata…e grav . Astăzi am ”reuşit” să dau peste o melodie lentă a lui Keith şi sincer…nu mai pot s-o schimb . Cum ar zice maestrul Guţă…să cânte muzica!

Asma Arbab Alamgir PPP, Capt. (R) Safdar PML-N and Haroon Rasheed Analyst in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Khawaja Saad Rafique PML-N, Sardar Nabeel Gabol PPP and Absar Alam in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Mda..seria romanelor citite de mine pe timp de noapte continuă cu un roman SF , un roman aparent pentru adolescenţi(mdea, am 20 acum, cică am trecut de perioada aia  )  dar care mi-a făcut plăcere s-o citesc şi care m-a captivat destul de mult. Mă întreb oare când o să găsesc şi eu o carte de genul cu personaj principal masculin. Slabe şanse…

Un scurt(de fapt lung) review al carţii găsit pe www.bscreview.com. În Romania mai greu cu cărţile…

Evermore is the first book in Alyson Noël’s new YA series, The Immortals.  Fittingly, considering the title, a lot of E words popped into my mind when I was thinking of how to describe it:  Enchanting.  Exciting.  Enthralling.  Enticing. All of them words, as well, of seduction and magic, which are two of the book’s main themes.

The third is loss.

The book is about Ever, who was the sole survivor of a car crash that took the lives of her parents and younger sister and necessitated her move from Oregon to California for her last two years of high school.  At her aunt’s, Ever has withdrawn into herself, dressing to be invisible and making friends with the biggest misfits in her school, Goth-girl Haven and simpering Miles.  Grief is not the sole reason for her new persona, however—Ever came back from her brush with death with the ability to read people’s emotional auras and learn their entire history with a touch.  Compounding her fears for her own sanity is her little sister, who insists on visiting her almost daily from the other side.  But when a new boy named Damen joins Ever’s class, she discovers someone whose aura she cannot read and whose voice and touch will dispel the sights and sounds of everyone else’s minds.  Even as Ever resists her attraction to Damen, she is falling in love with him—even though she knows she has no idea what he actually is.

Overall, I really liked this book.  It is in the current popular vein of Twilight or P.C. and Kristin Cast’s House of NightNoël’s world doesn’t have vampires or werewolves (at least, not yet), but it does have psychics, souls, and mysterious and powerful immortals.  She doesn’t couch spirituality in terms definitive enough to link it to one religion over another, but there is a spiritual aspect in that the reason Ever’s sister can come to visit and the notion of reincarnation are used as plot points in the story.  I thought it was a slightly different take on our world, familiar enough to be deceptively comfortable and believably rendered where it diverged. series, in that it’s a teenage paranormal story.

One of the strengths of this book is the way it forces you to empathize with Ever at all times. Noël did a masterful job of portraying the emotional black hole the loss of your entire immediate family would leave; I found Ever’s reactions to her powers and to her situation entirely believable.  Even when I was mentally begging Ever to wise up and make the “right” choice, I couldn’t really blame her for not doing so.  That is a common theme in YA literature, that agony as you watch the character make the wrong choices over and over again until they “grow up” enough to finally make what is obviously the better decision.  A lot of the time, however, the writer is not able to successfully pull off a sense of necessity in the character’s motivation or mode of thinking prior to that turning point.  But Noël did just that.  I might have wanted Ever to make different choices in the course of the narrative, but I understood why she could not, and that made her decisions merely heart-breaking instead of annoying.

Ever and her sister were the strongest characters in the book.  Damen was mysterious and inscrutable most of the time; while he was an enigma, he vacillated between interest and indifference too much (and with too little explanation later) to be as compelling for me as a reader as he was for Ever.  Haven’s need for attention created drama throughout the narrative, but she seemed to have little personality beyond her need for attention, just as Miles seemed to have little beyond the snappy retorts of his “witty gay man” persona.  I appreciated that Noël included conflict involving the friends that had nothing to do with Damen, but I wish the friends had had a little more depth.

Just a quick warning to anyone thinking of giving this book as a gift:  it might be better suited to an actual teenager than a tween.  Miles is openly homosexual, and sexual matters such as virginity or lack thereof are discussed frankly between the friends and between Ever and Damen.  None of it is handled in an offensive or inappropriate manner, but if you’re more conservative or have a younger adolescent in mind, just be aware that those topics are included.

The villain of the story was lackluster, at best, and this affected the climax of the book.  She showed very little beyond the “woman scorned” template that has been played out many times before, and her taunts and torments to Ever were so melodramatic as to almost be caricatures.

My other main complaint is that when Ever finally learns the whole truth about her powers and Damen’s identity and exactly what has been happening in her life for the past few months, it is a chapter that might as well have been titled “Damen Explains Everything.”  Ever does not discover much on her own; she is simply told—the world is explained to her as it might be to a child.  I thought this was a clumsy way to handle the exposition of details about the world as it stands for the immortals, and an insult to Ever as a character, that she is not allowed to work any of it out for herself.  But after Ever learns the truth, she must still make the choice to use her new knowledge, or not, and I did like that she is given the chance to decide for herself what her destiny will be.

Noël’s prose is direct and easy to follow, and the world as seen through the eyes of Ever is an interesting place.  In all, I thought this was an above-average read from the YA paranormal section.

Sursa articolului

It should finish at about 7.30pm, then we are planning to get some food and drink in the German Market with some of the councillors.  This is a great chance for networking as it will give you all a chance to mingle and get to know new people.

Collective thought by Adam Norris:

Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button is at the centre of all the headlines for the sport at the moment, as his contract has run out at Brawn GP. The decision for Button on where to move has been made extremely interesting by the power shift created by Mercedes shifting shares from McLaren to Brawn GP, now to be known as Mercedes GP.

Button took a £5 million voluntary pay cut to help the then, newly branded Brawn GP team at the start of last season after Honda pulled out of the sport. Now being World Champion he has reportedly asked Mercedes GP for £8 million a year, some reports suggest Jenson has indeed been offered that amount and now with the arrival of Mercedes backing to the team is asking for more. Others state that Jenson has only been offered £5 million, which could be linked to rumours that Mercedes GP would prefer an all German driver line up next season, with lower wages offered to the World Champion to help force a move away to a team such as McLaren.

Jenson has been in talks with McLaren, who have reportedly accepted to meet his £8 million wage demand, but a move to the team could see sparks fly as 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton would likely retain his favourable position in the team having been groomed by the team for years.

The options would appear to be wide open for Button with offers from his competitive team from last season who he has already shown loyalty, and from the McLaren team who have always been at or near the top of the standings.

Please leave your related comments, for example where do you think Jenson should go & why?

Syed Faisal Raza Abdi PPP, Ahsan Iqbal PML-N and Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed President AML in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Here are a few youtube clips on the Conservative party which I urge you to watch.

Es ist wieder FollowFriday und wir bieten euch abermals die Möglichkeit euren eingeheden Datenstrom um vier weitere tolle Accounts zu erweitern:

1. @TechCrunch

Internet, Social Networks, Mobile Games, Gadgets.. TechCrunch bloggt seit 2005 über alle neuen Trends. Die TC Tweets sind kurz – sehr kurz – und irgendwie könnte man meinen sie verweisen einzig und allein auf www.techcrunch.com. Das soll aber nicht weiter stören, sind alle Artikel doch gut geschrieben, fundiert recherchiert und stets topaktuell. Und sowieso: Was spricht denn schon gegen ein bisschen Werbung in eigener Sache?

[Daniel Seeger]

2. @MediaAsia

Die Top Empfehlung für alle die sich für den asiatischen Raum interessieren. Die Tweets umfassen weitreichend die gesamte Branche, von Etatverschiebungen über Personalwechsel oder auch beim Launch einer neuen Kampagne findet man hier sämtliches Wissenswerte auf einen Blick.

[Christian Faller]

3. @off_the_record

Das Blatt Horizont – Fachzeitung für Marketing, Werbung und Massenmedien – macht nicht nur in der Printversion einen guten Eindruck, sondern überzeugt auch online mit einem schönen Portal und verschiedenen zugehörigen Blogs.
Einer dieser Blogs ist off-the-record. Ich empfehle heute Olaf Kolbrück, der den offiziellen Twitter-Account des Blogs leitet.

[Falk Ebert]

4. @ibelieveinadv

Ein Blog, der täglich mehr oder weniger gelungene Plakate, Anzeigen, Clips oder sonstige Werbeaktionen zeigt. Sehr unterhaltsam, aktuell und in aller Kürze! Leider wird über die Bloginhalte hinaus nichts getwittert.

[Samuel Stelzer]

Makhdoom Javed Hashmi PML-N, Mehreen Anwar Raja PPP and Nazeer Naji Analyst in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issue with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Mdea. Mult dorita zi în care împlinesc 20 de ani. E timpul în care amintirile te năpădesc şi începi să-ti aduci aminte ce ai făcut cand ai împlinit 19, 18, 17, 16….şi tot aşa. Evident…daca ai şi ce să-ţi aminteşti.

Mă rog, eu continui să ma uit pe pereţi cu 2 melodii care îmi răsună în urechi alternativ de vreo 2 zile încoace.

Easy birthday to me! (de ”happy” nu se pune problema…)

Melodiile mele :

and

Khawaja Saad Rafique PML-N, Tasneem Qureshi PPP and Haroon Rasheed Analyst in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now

Fouzia Wahab PPP, Javed Hashmi PML-N and Senator Tariq Azeem PML-Q in fresh episode of Off The Record and discussing current issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Watch Now