Current Affairs
International Index rankings are random and open to manipulation, an academic study suggest. I'ts an illusion that Norway is the world's best country to live in, a Vg.no headline informed me this week, citing an academic paper by professor Karl Moene et al - but
Current Affairs
What's happening in Iran now tells us something important about Twitter as a news source and as a tool to help people self-organise, but why are mainstream commentators still struggling to get their heads around it? My Twitter-feed is abuzz with people tweeting about and linking to stories
Blogging
Here's something which, despite all the current doom and gloom, makes me both hopeful for the future of the world at large and despondent about my own industry (and if you'd rather focus on the former, feel free to jump past my chronology of frustration:-)
Blogging
One down, two to go, says Iain Dale after Gordon Brown's chief political adviser Damian McBride resigned over what The Guardian dubbed "Labour sex smear scandal" . I must admit I've stopped counting as I only keep half an eye on political blogs these days,
Current Affairs
So, Icleand has a new government, this one headed by Johanna Sigurdardottir. Who's controlling who? Interestingly, what struck me the most when I was in Rekjavik in mid-December was the lack of agreement and uncertainty I encountered over who were actually running the place: you could call it
Current Affairs
Today Iceland's coalition government collapsed under the strain of an escalating economic crisis, finally some would say (thanks to @lauraoliver for alerting me to this story) I was in Reykjavik to do story in December, on media of course, and it was a surreal experience. The sense of
Current Affairs
"Newspapers have already lost one of their key selling points: Social currency. In 2008, all meaningful political discourse — the essential element of social currency — takes place on the Web." Dan at Xark in "10 reasons why newspapers won't reinvent news", via Mindy McAdams, who
Current Affairs
As a blogger and journalist I must admit, as I've mentioned before, I fluctuate between Attention Deficit Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Order (to use Arianna Huffington's brilliant description of the two), and the scat... butterfly mind of the latter can't quite pinpoint when I
Current Affairs
With the recent market gloom, it's no surprise to hear that the mood in Davos was a bit sombre this year. But no, Adrian, I can't imagine that the modesty of Davos is a coincidence, after all it's Switzerland: remember Calvin? I hear his
Blogging
Want to know the results of next year's US election? Follow the blog buzz. At least if this Norwegian experiment is anything to go by: A blog measuring the blog buzz around Norway's political parties and key political issues proved to be quite accurate when it
Blogging
A follow-up post from Mike Rouse on my post about UK bloggers vs broadcasters: As one of those trawling the blogs I can assure you that we were indeed ahead because of the priceless information posted on blogs very quickly. Some bloggers had contacts within counts, others posted from mobile
Current Affairs
The 'hackers' in Sweden's most recent 'Watergate', which saw several Liberal Party activists, and a journalist, unlawfully log onto the intranet of the country's governing party in the run-up to last year's election, went on trial this week: At the