TOP 100 ENGLAND SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| BBC joins international protests against Iranian TV interference Corporation supports formal complaint after signal jamming and removal of Persian service from satelliteIran is facing mounting international protests about its jamming of the BBC's Persian TV service (PTV) after the channel – which has millions of viewers and is hugely popular with opposition supporters – was taken off a satellite owned by Europe's leading operator.The BBC said today it was "actively supporting" a formal complaint to the International Telecommunication Union, a UN-affiliated body, about "deliberate interference" from Iran. The ITU confirmed it had received representations from regulators in France, home to Eutelsat, owner of the Hotbird 6 satellite, which transmitted PTV until the end of last month.The German state broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, said it too would protest about interference with its Persian-language radio broadcasts. Voice of America Persian TV programmes have also been jammed.The BBC said it was telling viewers how to adjust their satellite dishes to receive programmes via two other satellites that are out of range of Iranian jamming.Eutelsat says PTV was removed from Hotbird 6 "in agreement" with the BBC, though sources close to the affair say the operator caved in to commercial and legal pressures from other customers broadcasting on the same transponder.Another Eutelsat satellite, Hotbird 8, provides capacity to Iranian state media channels, including English-language Press TV, which has offices in London.Iranian opposition supporters are accusing satellite companies of "siding with dictators". Eutelsat and GlobeCast, a France Télécom subsidiary which leases bandwidth from Eutelsat — and which made the decision to take down PTV — refuse to say publicly that the Iranian government is responsible for the jamming."It makes me angry that we are the victims of jamming by the Iranian government and the Iranian government is still able to use Hotbird for its own programmes," said one BBC source. "We are the victims and they are the perpetrators."PTV was launched a year ago this week to Iranian fury. Sporadic jamming began after last June's disputed presidential elections but intensified in late December, after the death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a revered cleric associated with the opposition, which triggered a new round of demonstrations.Tehran has repeatedly attacked PTV as an arm of the British government, which it accuses of seeking to foment a "velvet revolution".Last week, it included the BBC on a list of 60 "subversive" international organisations. Britain and Iran are at odds over Iran's nuclear programme, Israel, and other Middle Eastern issues. The Foreign Office called the jamming "a clear attempt to infringe the right of Iranians to watch the TV channel of their choice".The BBC said it was exploring other options with Eutelsat. "We will try every avenue to give our large audiences in Iran the television news services that they want," said Peter Horrocks, the BBC World Service director.Iran has gone to extraordinary lengths to block TV broadcasts it considers hostile. Signals transmitted from the US, beyond reach of Iranian jamming, have occasionally been jammed from Cuban territory.But hopes of a response from Tehran to these latest complaints are slim as the Geneva-based ITU has no enforcement power and is widely seen as toothless.Iranian viewers are angry and frustrated. "We Iranians are now under repression," one PTV fan said. "We are passing another turning point in our history and we need unbiased news more than ever."Another told the BBC: "People have been left with an utter lack of information … Perhaps you don't realise the extent of your influence on Iranian society.""Iranians keep asking me why the west is so powerless," Sadeq Saba, head of PTV, wrote on his blog. "They say: 'This is a rogue government jamming international signals. How will the west stop Iran getting nuclear weapons if they can't deal with this?'"IranBBCSatellitesMiddle EastIan Blackguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Families getting poor bank deal quadruples The number of struggling families getting a poor deal from their bank has quadrupled within a year, according to the latest figures. telegraph.co.uk |
How Skins grew up (a bit) Naomily's affair and Thomas's turmoil show that E4's teen hit is more than sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, but can it really be the 'new Doctor Who'?"People make up fan fiction. Fan porn fiction!" Effy from Skins, known to her parents as Kaya Scodelario, is sitting on the back of a catering bus in a car park in Bristol, explaining that the show's fanbase proves its devotion in unlikely ways. The internet is awash with hormonal reimaginings of what the characters get up to in an alternate universe, and it usually involves manly hugging or fighting that turns into something altogether more sexual."The best are the boys' ones; you can read them and imagine it!" she giggles. "It's funny."The amount, scope and terrifying imagination of Skins fan fiction is staggering, but E4's teen smash – about to start its fourth series – is the kind of programme that inspires serious dedication. Its viewers officially number around a million per episode when it's on TV, but unofficially the audience is much bigger than that, both locally and internationally, thanks to its online presence. For a show that was written off by many critics as teen nonsense at the start of the first series, it's been hugely successful. Skins fans voted it to victory in the Audience Award category at last year's Baftas, beating The X Factor, Coronation Street and The Apprentice. The fans have also had an impact on the focus of the new series. The emotional centre of the previous run was meant to be the love triangle between Effy (younger sister of series one star Tony) and her sixth-form suitors Freddie and Cook. It's been a narcissistic and painfully adult affair of some messiness, but it was the smaller, and far sweeter, story about two girls falling in love with each other that really grabbed the viewers' attention. As a result, Emily and Naomi – that's Naomily to brevity-lovers – are now a much bigger part of the show."Last year it was a side storyline," confirms Lily Loveless, who plays Naomi, "but this year it's quite important, probably because of the comments on the website."Kat Prescott (Emily) is happy that it's had such a positive impact with the audience. "I've had four fan letters, which was so cool," she grins. "People who can relate to it probably feel quite alienated in some ways, so to see it … I know if I was in that position it would be a relief. There isn't that much about young girls coming out."And they weren't just coming out. They ended up as romantic leads in a primetime teenage drama and the couple that all the viewers were rooting for. At the end of the last series, they were the only ones with a high-school-movie-style happy ending."After Emily admitted she was gay," Kat explains, "the rest of the series wasn't about them being girls. It was about two people being in love and one of them, for whatever reason, was being funny." She shrugs, "So that was quite cool. Because I don't think it should be a massive issue."For all its posturing, the outwardly cool, don't-give-a-shit kids aren't necessarily where the heart of Skins lies. Series four kicks off with an episode given over to Thomas, who arrived in Bristol from the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the start of series three. He didn't really do much except get a girlfriend and beat Mackenzie Crook in a chilli-eating contest. This time, he's balancing his mother's expectations and religion with teenage life in a different environment with an entirely new moral code to negotiate. It's a thoughtful, heavyweight storyline, and Merv Lukeba, who plays him, is thrilled to be getting more attention."It's a wicked episode," he smiles. "I've got four sex scenes with four different girls! You should have seen the grin on my face when I got the scripts. I'm nicely looked after. High five, Mr Executive Producer!" 'At 17, I was going, "Why are my parents so stupid?" Once I got that, I got the show' John Griffin, producerThomas's struggle to fit in and the Naomi-Emily love story suggest that – whisper it! – Skins is sometimes, kind of, responsible television. It can handle the "issues" because it's well written, by a mix of experienced and very young writers, who use a team of teenage consultants to come in for a meeting once a week to give their thoughts on the latest developments. And the young cast are bolstered by an incredible roster of guest stars, including Peter Capaldi, Sally Phillips, Paul Kaye, Josie Long, Bill Bailey, Olivia Colman, Harry Enfield, David Baddiel, Ronni Ancona, Chris Addison and Ardal O'Hanlon, who usually pop up as inept parents who are far more irresponsible than their offspring."When I first saw it, I thought, 'Why are the adults so two-dimensional and silly?'" explains series producer John Griffin, standing outside an anonymous house in a Bristol suburb that leads a double life as Effy's back garden. Griffin produced the equally raucous Shameless for Channel 4 before taking on Skins for series four. "I didn't get it. Then it dawned on me. At 17, I was going, 'Why are my parents so stupid? They don't understand. They behave in a ridiculous way.' Once I got that, I got the show."And now, the show is turning into an industry. There's a film in development, possibly with the series three/four cast; their last call before a new guard is ushered in for the next two-year cycle. A novel came out at the start of the month, offering an official take on fan fiction by filling in the gaps of the unseen summer holiday in a style somewhere between Mills & Boon and Bebo. (Sample extract: "Cook sniggered, his face sweating – from the heat, from the MDMA. 'Fair enough, Naomikins.' He took a swig of lager and waved the can at us.") Then there's the American remake, which gets the cast riled up, because they're not sure it will work with the stricter US broadcasting rules; and, of course, there's the prospect of a whole new gang for 2011/12 and beyond. "In that sense," says Griffin, "we've made a show with more longevity than anything else. Normally your cast get too old. It gets tired. The second year means we can tell whatever story we want. As long as we keep reinventing it … I think it can last. By the time our audience are in their late 20s, I think people will talk about which was their Skins generation, like I talk about my Doctor Who." Does he think it's already influential? "I do, I suppose, but I never quite know who's copying who. I think if I'm being really honest, the really cool kids, older teens, sneer at Skins a little bit. But we've become an incredibly aspirational show for kids who are just going out into the adult world, wanting to go to sixth-form college, and wanting their lives to be that fantastic. Or tragic!"There's no point in denying that the drink, drugs and reckless shagging are a huge draw for its teenage audience. Griffin doesn't even try; you might have to tick a box to say you're 18 or over to watch the show online, but he's well aware that it appeals to a younger crowd. He reasons that the cast are roughly the same age as their characters, and if they don't break the rules about what the actors can do, it shouldn't be too much for its viewers to handle. Then there are the mega-fun trailers for each series, which pack in enough sex, drugs and rock'n'roll to get the more reactionary headline-makers up in arms about – shock! – real-life "Skins parties". Teenagers! In houses! Getting off with each other! Or, if the Daily Mail is to be believed, gatherings "named after the Channel 4 drama about appallingly behaved teenagers", in which houses get trashed and family pets are drugged.Attracting such a mix of snooty disapproval and parental fear, as it has from the start, just shows that Skins is doing its job properly; Hollyoaks would give its entire Wags wardrobe to be this smart, funny and relevant. Because Skins really is one of the best shows for and about teenagers that British TV has ever come up with. It's just that, like all teenagers, it's misunderstood.SKINS UP! Our five favourite Skins momentsSkins goes sing-along Tony realises he's been a massive twat, having spent the entire first series being a massive twat. Shock one: as he apologises to Michelle, he's flattened by a bus. Shock two: the cast breaks into a rendition of Cat Stevens's Wild World. Shock three: it's not crap! Skins goes Fight Club Tony's still recovering from the whole bus-head business. So there's an entire episode where all the people he meets might just be in his head. Skins starts killing charactersAfter offing Sid's dad (Peter Capaldi), Skins went one further with Chris. But there wasn't much time to mourn, as it turned into a fun-time coffin-thieving caper, with a hefty dash of poignancy. Skins does a happy ending After agonising weeks of will-they-won't-they, Naomi finally tells Emily she loves her – at the end-of-year Love Ball. Skins blames the parents The kids may be revelling in rudeness and recreationals but – make no mistake – it's the adults who are a shambles. Effy and Tony's parents? Detached. Emily's mum? Homophobic. Cassie's dad? A Men Behaving Badly star playing a self-obsessed hippy. You can see why they turned out the way they did.TelevisionRebecca Nicholsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Country diary: Wenlock Edge Wenlock EdgeThe whiteness of the snow changed everything: it covered the ground, dressed trees and hills, brought a silent music and made the familiar strange. When the thaw came it was as if the doors of a great cabinet had swung open and we could see the magician's glamorous assistant. She had stepped into the cabinet when the magician tricked the world out with snow, and now it had vanished the assistant made a miraculous reappearance. In a funny way, we were disappointed to see her. Perhaps we were expecting a metamorphosis; instead there was the same old assistant, not quite as glamorous as when she disappeared, a bit flattened, damp, spoiled.As the last of the snow melted away into fog and mud, the birds became agitated. With their flinty little calls and hesitant flitting there was little to distinguish them except for flashes of colour: the golden rump-spot of a green woodpecker leaving a molehill because the yellow ant mounds were still frozen; double white tail flashes of chaffinch flickering like lights in the hedge trees, red and white bullfinch all blood and bandages.The brightness of morning faded to a silver-blue. Warmer and sunnier now, the birds picked up the pace. I picked up a hazel stick and broke the end off to fit it for the miles it had to do, stabbing squalid bits of puddle ice, ratcheting up steep banks to skirt the cliffs, poking about in leaf mould. Ravens and buzzards were still quiet, ghosting through treetops. A kestrel hovered over a sodden meadow. The streams have got their chuckle back: intoxicated with snow melt and rain, their yellow and blue scoured-clean beds shine under racing cold clear water and its sound folds over little falls. On a bend of the brook there was a flash of white – the magician's glamorous assistant had rediscovered her smile: snowdrops.Rural affairsBirdsBirdwatchingPaul Evansguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Top financier: UK is 'a must to avoid' Bill Gross deals blow to government with warning to his investors that Britain's debt makes it a 'must to avoid'The government's hopes of claiming credit for reviving the British economy suffered a severe blow today when the world's biggest buyers of bonds warned that the UK was a "must to avoid" for his investors as its debt was "resting on a bed of nitroglycerine".The intervention by Bill Gross, co-founder of California-based fund managers Pimco, came on the day official figures confirmed that Britain had emerged from the deepest recession since the 1930s – but only by the narrowest of margins.The economy grew by 0.1% in the final three months of last year, much weaker than even the most cautious expectations in Westminster and the City. The unexpectedly sluggish performance prompted Alastair Darling to warn that Britain could yet fall back into recession, telling the Guardian "there will be hiccups along the way".The chancellor insisted, however, that he would not be required to revise his forecast growth of 1-1.5% over 2010."You cannot come through a recession of this magnitude, dust yourself down and walk off as if nothing happened," he said. "Things will be steadily improving, but we have got to negotiate some bumps in the road."But the remarks by Gross, whose pronouncements on bond markets are regarded as highly influential, added to the sense that the economy remained in a dangerously parlous state. "The UK is a must to avoid. Its gilts are resting on a bed of nitroglycerine," he said."High debt with the potential to devalue its currency present high risks for bond investors."His views are particularly painful for the government as the head of Pimco's European team is Andrew Balls, the brother of cabinet minister Ed Balls. Gross described the UK as posing risks for investors because it has "the highest debt levels and a finance-oriented economy – exposed like London to the cold dark winter nights of deleveraging". He warned that the UK was in Pimco's "ring of fire" where a country's public debt could exceed 90% of GDP in a few years' time. Darling's current projections are for the debt to GDP ratio to peak at 77% in 2014.Pimco has been trying to attract new clients by sounding the alarm about the UK for some time, most recently earlier this month when it unsettled markets by saying it was cutting back on its bond investments in the UK and the US.• The headline to this article was amended on Wednesday 27 January 2010. The co-founder of Pimco is Bill, not Bob, Gross. This has been corrected.EconomicsGreen shootsInvestingAlistair DarlingUnited StatesLabourJill TreanorPatrick Wintourguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |