Media
While we are discussing evil foreign media owners and all the virtues of national media ownership here in our small corner of the world, British newspapers improve their strategies for reaching a bigger, worldwide audience. Both The Times and The Guardian are eyeing the US market, but the implications of
Acquisitions
"Cultureless" is the striking title of Gudleiv Forr's opinion piece in Dagbladet about how Orkla is willing to throw what he dubs 'the Norwegian Enlightenment project' over board by selling its newspaper arm to cultureless foreign owners such as the Brits (represented by Mecom)
Travel
I left London just after the break of dawn, a wonderful time of the day to travel as the city is just starting to wake up and you get the streets and underground almost to yourself - give or take a few clubbers stumbling home and a few workers shuffling
Pictures
Food and Drink
Yesterday I found myself half-watching the France-Switzerland game in a hotel bar over a few drinks. On the menu of this rather up-market place I found "Devon farmed snails on toast with young vegetables and herb butter". Now aside form the fact that I was there with a
Current Affairs
That is, the Norwegian state, according to an intriguing article in Aftenposten about how regional effectivisation has made life hard for the politicians. My favourite headline of the week, with the charming subtitle "Politicians want the control back". It sounds like the state has taken on a life
Web/Tech
On my way from Oslo to Stavern. My mobile broadband has the 'allure' of me theoretically being able to work online from anywhere (at least in Norway). However, the stretch from Drammen (which is fab for connection) to Sandefjord (which is really bad) is a problematic one. From
Acquisitions
Rumour has it that Mecom, headed by David Montgomery, has emerged as the frontrunner to take over Orkla's newspaper arm – a development I am quite excited about (though Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet and perhaps the newspaper group A-pressen are still being considered as serious alternative buyers). The possible sale
Current Affairs
Launch: "I am heartily sick and tired of the Prime Minister 'launching' a new 'initiative' (it is never anybody who 'launches' except the Prime Minister; cabinet ministers are left to pick up the pieces when it all goes very wrong). I would not
Personal
After many years living in London I shifted my base to Oslo a while back, and ended up living in the middle of Oslo's suburbia, at Manglerud – a nice family friendly place close to a bird reservoir and a forest. Now, with only ten minutes on the tube
Current Affairs
On one of my many trips between Norway and England I ended up sitting next to a man who was preparing for the end of the world. He was studying ecology in the UK, but was planning his move to a pristine area where the farming land had not been
Current Affairs
Banks the world over are scrambling to become larger, according to this interesting survey by The Economist. One reason, writes Robert Cottrell "is the pursuit of economies of scale in areas such as procurement, systems, operations, research and marketing. But the gains from that in the mass production of