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The Cost of Ubiquity

December 22, 2008

With the news that BBC reporter and economist Robert Peston has been listed as an Observer “face of the year”, is he officially ubiquitous?

Sometimes, it seems so. Blade was returning from London on the weekend and turned on the radio to listen to Five Live’s Fighting Talk. Within seconds he heard mention of Peston (though not, it has to be said, in the most flattering of terms; indeed, the sacreligious wish that there might be less of Peston in 2009 was expressed). But with Peston now breaching Five Live’s citadel of sport, how long before we see him on cookery programmes, or aboard yachts in the Caribbean, or wandering the cobbled streets of St Ives, all in the name of a far-fetched economics scoop (cf., Northern Rock), which mutates into the story of the century?

Mind you, ubiquity comes at a price. Just ask Posh ‘n’ Becks, Brangelina, George Clooney et al – or any ex-Lehman Brothers employee.

Ways to beat the credit crunch: take a pay cut to save a colleague

December 19, 2008

We continue our occasional series on how to beat the credit crunch with a heart-warming story from a supposedly heartless environment. Yes, journalism. Four journalists at Newsquest titles in Wales have offered to take a pay cut to prevent a colleague’s redundancy.

Perhaps our friends in the City could have suggested likewise before using to fire drill to cull their staff?

Colin Stagg: Completely Innocent

December 18, 2008

At last, Colin Stagg has received an apology from the Metropolitan Police. Sixteen years ago, the police ruined his life when they brought false charges against him for the murder of Rachell Nickell. Now, with Robert Napper having confessed to the crime, the police have magnaminously sent Stagg a letter of apology.

We don’t think the outrageousness of the police tactics, using a honeytrap to implicate Stagg, can ever be excused. Nor should what Mr Justice Ognall described as “deceptive conduct of the grossest kind” at the Old Bailey in 1994 be forgotten.

But just as much as we should be astute to similar abuses of police power, we should recall the despair of the tabloids when the case against Stagg collapsed. The media had already hung, drawn and quartered their man, and didn’t like it one bit when Ognall J. threw out the case. Trial by media is no substitute for the due process of the law.

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