The shape of the face looking up at me was unmistakable. That it was thirty feet or so below me rather than as many feet above was something of a surprise as well. The black eyes blinked in the torchlight and then it turned away. It’s not every day you see a barn owl clinging [...]
Across the UK last week there were huge riots, with predominantly young people protesting about the rise in university fees. British newspapers and TV screens were splashed with images of police and protesters battling it out. Police vans were pelted with stones, riot shields were spattered with paint and the crowds were bottled up by [...]
Gilgit in 1995 was not exactly on the cutting edge when it came to getting the latest periodicals and magazines. A month-old copy of Newsweek was a real find, and week-old newspapers from ‘downcountry’ were devoured cover to cover. One journal (which will remain nameless as it still prints) did manage to find its way [...]
It being the time of year when it can be a pleasure to walk outside safe in the knowledge that you are not going to die of sunstroke, I strolled into town. What struck me was just how much had changed since my last foray into pedestrianism. Change goes on around us all the time [...]
Big pictures are what we analysts and commentators do. The grand strategic overviews, the penetrating (well, sometimes) insights and the big ethical and political questions. Much of this can be done without moving from in front of our workstations. But if you want to see the smaller picture you actually have to get off your [...]
There are two things that our own President Zardari and President Pinera of Chile have in common - money and a privileged background. Both are hugely wealthy and come from their national elite classes – at which point the similarities end. Pinera put in a bravura performance at the climax of the Chilean mine rescue. [...]
Human misery has always sold newspapers and caught the eye and the attention of those who watch TV. From the beginning of the era of mass communication, the time when newspapers became easily and cheaply available and literacy was on the rise, images of suffering have figured large.
Over time, the media developed codes of conduct [...]
Karachi is never the same place twice. It was on lock-down the last time I was here, a virtual ghost-town laced together with threads of fear that was only just beginning to get back into its stride by the time I left. Stepping out of the airport last Wednesday it was as different as chalk [...]
It was a long queue, usual at lunchtimes when people on their break would visit the bank. We waited our turn, some reading books and newspapers; because if there is one thing the British do well it’s queuing. Queuing is in our genes, we are born with all the nuances of queuing etiquette hardwired into [...]
Booting the computers on a quiet Sunday morning to find that the News of the World had broken a cricket match-fixing story was a bad way to start the day. And it just carried on getting worse. I had been brought up to have nothing but contempt for the News of the World. My parents [...]
