blair

Tony Blair in Oxford: Part II

by kierenmccarthy on February 4, 2006

So it’s 6pm, pitch black, on a cold February night and I’m sat on a wall at the back of St Anthony’s College in Oxford waiting for the prime minister to appear having given a speech on Britain’s future role in Europe.

I’m not supposed to be here, I’m not even supposed to know this event is taking place – despite the fact that the meeting – and what Tony Blair is going to say at it – has been plastered all over the newspapers and on the radio this morning.

Downing Street had told me I wasn’t allowed to know the time or venue. And I wasn’t allowed to attend. Oxford University had told me Downing Street has told it to refer all requests back to Number 10. I had found out anyway and called the college but was told there were no spaces.

To make matters worse, the prime minister had eluded my efforts to photograph him as he arrived by taking a back entrance that I believe I am now sat on the wall facing.

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The hunt for the prime minister – and our democracy: Tony Blair in Oxford

by kierenmccarthy on February 3, 2006

I first heard about it at around 8.30am yesterday morning on the Today programme. “Tony Blair will be giving a speech on Britain's role in Europe in Oxford today where he will say…”

The speech-reported-before-it-is-said must be one of the most depressingly symbols of modern media politics. It goes right to the heart of what news is – and what it should be. Newspapers have always been broadly supportive of the definition that news is “what you don't know”. If you haven't heard it, it is therefore news.

But the printed media and television now spend more of their time breaking this definition that following it. The rise of the Internet and the endless cost-cutting means that rarely does anything appear on TV or in a newspaper that people haven't already heard.

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Food for thought

August 9, 2002

Do you eat to live or live to eat? Do you turn to food when you’re depressed or anxious? If so, you could be jeopardising your mental and physical health, but there is a way out, and it’s all about breaking the cycle of dependence.

Comfort eating, or overeating, is an extremely easy habit to form and a difficult one to break. Experts readily compare it to smoking and many of the same techniques are used to helping people to give up.

But while smoking may not be exactly natural, eating to soothe the spirit is something we learn from an early age. Dr Linda Blair, clinical psychologist at the University of Bath and specialist in comfort eating, points out that feeding a baby when it cries is a normal response. As children, we are given sweets to cheer us up or as rewards – is it any wonder then that when in need of relaxation or reassurance many of us turn to food?

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