Harvested, then expertly montaged, from the experiences and opinions of 43 journalists, Enquirer effectively distills the anger, regret and loss of confidence among newspaper staff, not least because some of them still sanguinely consider what they do to be an essentially noble vocation. Yet Enquirer shows the industry on a cliff-edge; regardless of the centuries of history […]
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Kaite O’Reilly Interview
Disabled people’s lives are the focus of a new production from National Theatre Wales. Writer Kaite O’Reilly explains the origins of the piece. It’s the most cliched — and some would say most vital — question you can ask a writer: where do they get their ideas and inspiration from? For the multi-award-winning playwright Kaite […]
Why the Edinburgh Television Festival fails us all
First published by Scottish Review, 28/08/2012 Three years ago, the biggest single threat to the future of the status quo of British broadcasting, and specifically the British Broadcasting Corporation, appeared to be James Murdoch. At the time most media commentators assumed Murdoch was entering the Second Act of his grand Shakespearian rise to global media […]
Festival Magic
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which takes place every August, is well known for its comedy. Less recognised perhaps is how the world’s largest arts event is increasingly becoming a singular public stage for the nation’s magicians, not least thanks to a significant growth in the Fringe’s Cabaret category during the last five years. Award-winning magician […]
Joining the Zooniverse
Five years ago this month, citizen science project Galaxy Zoo was launched. It has inspired new projects that are expanding our view of the Universe. Carolyn Bol is among the relatively small number of people who can truthfully claim to have discovered an exoplanet, a world orbiting another star. Yet she isn’t a professional astronomer. […]
Doctor Who, Humanist hero?
“To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained.” Not necessarily the kind of philosophy you’d expect in a child-friendly family drama on a Saturday evening, but that’s Doctor Who for you. It’s nearly 50 years since “the Doctor” first appeared on British television screens. He has become as iconic a character in British culture […]
EIFF Science Fiction Filmmaking Challenge
It’s not particularly surprising for the final day of the Edinburgh International Film Festival to begin with a selection of short films on the big screen in Filmhouse 1. Admittedly, it’s a tad unusual that all the films which will be shown on Sunday 1 July are the work of non-professionals. Yet what is utterly […]
