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Welcome! Great to see you! But…

… the party, such as it was, ended a while ago. The punch is flat, the balloons are deflated, and I wouldn’t even look those sausage rolls.

This blog was most active between 2001 and 2006, when my working life regularly called for the kind of punditry often shoved here, and my personal circumstances granted me the time to write it. It was a time of wonderful innovation in the news business, which I was proud to be part of. Blogging was at its heart, and this was my contribution to the debate.

There were some posts after that period, but fewer, and none in the last year, until today. Comments have also been switched off. Responsibility at work meant airing views here would often be inappropriate, while responsibility at home meant I didn’t have the time anyway, either to write or defeat tides of comment spam.

Today, I Tweet instead.

I’ve kept the site up, partly through nostalgia for an exciting time, partly because I’m enough of an internet old-timer to believe allowing sites to go dark – killing their content, and the comments they created – is not a Good Thing. One day, I might start updating again, although probably not about work-related issues.

Looking back, I sometimes agree with my younger self in part, but might put it differently now. At other times, I couldn’t put it better today. Once or twice, I wonder what I was thinking.

But none of what’s here should be taken as anything other than my view at the time. I’ve always reserved the right to change my mind as the facts themselves shift, or I learn new ones.

And, goodness knows, I’ve learned a lot these last few years.

 

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Catnip memories

I’m told this post, from 2004, is my most notorious. The friend reminding me of that says this video, in turn, reminds him of of that blog entry.

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It’s official: I’ve Britain’s tenth biggest web-bourne ego. Rah!

There’s form for this kind of blog post. False modesty, for sure. Cloying, faux disbelief, usually. The kind of thing that makes you want to kick the author in the shins. “Oh, now now now now. Who? Me? No, no no. Surely not! What? Stand on this big stage and take this lovely bouquet? A top ten list? That I’m in? Little old me? Me? Memememememe? Why! I’m just overwhelmed! I’ve only ever done it because of the love I have for mysel… no, sorry, the social web! And I’d just like to thank…”

How curious. Yes, it appears I’ve been ranked one of the 20 most visible web people in the country, in a bit of work by NowPublic, the social media website. The BBC’s Rory Clellan-Jones comes top of their list, along with a bunch of BBC folk and Guardian colleagues, plus Tom Coates, Stephen Fry and – infuriatingly – my wee brother, who has entered the list three places above me at number seven, and is now crowing.

The rather odd list appears to be driven by some kind of tallying of digital media output. Quoth the press release:

“The goal of NowPublic’s MostPublic Index is to measure—on a completely transparent, metric-driven basis—who has the greatest digital reach and is most effectively broadcasting their own personal brand online,” said Leonard Brody, CEO of NowPublic.

“Broadcasting” my “own personal brand online”? It all sounds a little vulgar. And there are some names from the UK I’m surprised to see are missing. I mean – surely Paul Carr doesn’t break wind these days without it being catalogued, photographed (drink in hand), measured and fired out across an RSS feed? [Later: Charles Arthur, also on the list, points out it's crazy that colleague Jemima Kiss isn't on there. She really should be.] And are we really saying the BBC’s Robert Peston – Britain’s blog sensation this year, having broken significant stories on his through the financial crisis – should be a place below yours truly?

Ah, feck it. The form would say maybe we are. It does seem I gained this distinction for this semi-opaque goldfish bowl of my own making – blogging, Twittering and Flickring, and doing so in such a way as to be read by you, gentle reader. I’d suggest NowPublic perhaps put too much weight on leftfield metrics and totting up what means of communication we use, rather than the content (and audience) itself, but let’s not look this one too closely in the mouth, eh?

So, rather than say anything more that is, by turn, curmudgeonly or egocentric, let me simply say something insincere and demonstrably untrue. Something like “this is as much an honour for you as it is for me”… and then I’ll leave it there.

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We’re all blogging now

Journo blogger and academic Paul Bradshaw asks if we can define blogging without referring to technology. That’s a good idea – for us, technology is only the tool, not the product. But what Paul offers as an alternative lacks, and I hope he doesn’t mind me saying so, a certain something.

“Blogging, above all else, is conversational. It is social. It is networked. There are two key features to the blog: links, and comments. Fail to include either, and you’re talking to yourself.”

I agree with Paul that blogging is social. But, by failing to include links and comments, are we really “talking to yourself”?

Nah. This seems a very technocratic definition. After all, journalist Paul Carr’s blog is undoubtedly a blog, but has no comments (for reasons he explained here). Marketing guru and author Seth Godin only does trackbacks, not comments, on his very popular (and influential) blog for reasons he explained here. One of the fathers of blogging, Dave Winer, hasn’t had didn’t have comments on his main blog for years. Winer, an often hectoring voice online, was left open to accusations of not taking what he dished out. [Update: as pointed out in a comment here, Dave does now have comments. Mea culpa.]

So what’s missing?

I’ve long said, without really explaining myself, that often blogging is, really, the first form of journalism born of the web. Blogging has changed both the way we think about creating a piece of digital journalism, and the way that piece of work is digested after we’ve clicked “publish”.

It’s probably time to explain myself.

You see, when we decide to use facts to describe or discuss an event, issue or idea, it’s reasonable to say we’re producing journalism. And I’d contend that bloggers often do just this. And I’d further contend that the best bloggers are going into this with their eyes open; they have a keen awareness of at least four factors (I’m sure you can think of more) which make their kind of work different from, say, print journalism, or broadcast, or anything else.

Let’s take a quick look at the four factors, and how they change the end product.

Continue Reading →

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Joining the Wall Street Journal

WSJ.com's front page, today You may have noticed the world of finance making the news of late, so it seems like a good time to let you know: from the new year, I hope to be bringing you a few of those headlines.

After nine-and-a-half wonderful years at the Guardian, I’ve decided to move to pastures new, to become editor of the European edition of WSJ.com, the Wall Street Journal’s website.

WSJ.com has been making great strides of late, including an impressive redesign unveiled just as the current crisis took hold last month. The team there is working to create something outstanding around one of the biggest stories of the time, and it’s a huge thrill to be asked to take the helm in Europe.

I’ll be developing European editorial from London, although I’ll also be working on some special projects with the global operation in New York. Things kick off in the New Year.

Before then, lots of farewells. It’s been a privilege to work for the Guardian in print and on the web, working on some big stories and meeting fascinating people along the way. On guardian.co.uk, I’ve had enormous fun doing things like building our blogs, and launching our audio and video services. I’ll miss everyone, although I hope they’ll still let me sneak in to see the plush new Kings Place offices when they’re all settled in.

But, before then, some drinks may be taken around Farringdon…

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Rounding up your London-living advice

There was a lovely response to my post last week on living in London, which makes me think perhaps I should do more about the place. Lots of comments, which you should read there – as well as a trio I should pick out…

1. Yes, it’s true that the Waverley – the glorious Clyde paddle steamer which makes an annual visit to the south of England – isn’t due here another month. An Honest Man – who I’ve known most of my life as my Uncle Bill – posted helpful photographic evidence of the lovely ship steaming past Ayr, on the west of Scotland. The Waverley’s fast, but not fast enough to make it down in those timescales. But I’ll be going for a steam next month.

2. James Cherkoff asked why I advised against buying a house with a basement. Well, James, it’s because mine keeps filling up with water and – given that’s where the boiler lives – that’s a royal pain. And an expensive one, too.

3. Graham Beale adds very very good point – join Tate. He’s right about the members’ club, which has the finest views of any members’ room in the country. I’d also suggest the ICA in the Mall which – aside from having quite the poshest address of any club – has a very nice restaurant and a late bar. [Later: Gah! Thanks Graham! How could I forget the Frontline Club, the journalists' club in Paddington of which I'm a founder member and a great fan? Maybe the very fine members' bar has something to do with my amnesia... decent restaurant there too, open to all.]

There are more nice suggestions from you lovely people at the end of the post – do add more there, rather than here – if inspiration strikes.

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Ten years, and ten tips for living in London

Right pea-souper, guvnor, etc etcIt’s the 10th anniversary of my move to London, when I left the homely comforts of my little Edinburgh flat in pursuit of a certain girl, and some work. And we all know how that ended up.

So, to mark ten years working here in the big smoke (if not always living here – we’ll always have Swindon), here are ten top London tips. Feel free, of course, to add your own in the comments, for London or your locale of choice.

1. As soon as you live here, you get to be a Londoner. But remember to be a tourist in your own city. Get on the open-topped buses. Sail down the river (I really want to do this on the Waverley this autumn. Hmm. Maybe this weekend, in fact). Do the Tower, and Buckingham Palace, and the galleries and museums one wet Sunday at a time. And subscribe to my mate Andrew’s brilliant weekly email, and buy his gorgeous guidebook, to find more cool things to do.

2. The Tube’s great, sometimes for several complete days a year. But buses let you see more, if you can suss the masonic ritual that is “getting a ticket”.

3. Oyster (Transport for London’s contactless card system) makes life much easier, even on buses. Some privacy activists will tell you, as they adjust their foil helmets, that they won’t use it because Gordon/George/Boris/Ki-moon/Ken will be able to follow their movements as they touch in, and touch out. Yet they have no trouble telling their cabbie where they’re going, and are probably Twittering and blogging the minutae of their paranoid lives from the back seat as they do. Ignore these people, and remember to smile for the CCTV.

4. On the tube, or in the street, keep walking. Briskly. There’s a Facebook group dedicated to Londoners’ fantasies about dealing with those who don’t.

5. No matter how much you earn, and no matter how much more you’re earning with your new London job, you will feel poor. Even Roman Abramovich was surprised at the cost of a loaf down Borough market, and left wondering if he’d taken enough out the hole in the wall for that and an artisan sausage sandwich with organic lemonade for lunch. Really. Or maybe not*. Console yourself with the fact you’re not having to scrape by on less than the London living wage, like one in seven of your new city neighbours. Or maybe you are, in which case, condolences. The government thinks you should survive on the flat-rate UK minimum, despite major banks, other big employers and even the new Tory mayor thinking Ken Livingstone’s higher London minimum is a good idea.

6. Helpfully – because you couldn’t afford a nice car anyway – having a banger with damaged paintwork is the pragmatist’s motor of choice around London. It means you can move into traffic without fear – that BMW/Mercedes/Audi driver will let you in**. It’s not that they’re being nice – they just don’t want to get bashed. Have you seen the insurance premiums?

7. Ah, yes – insurance premiums: for the love of God, shop around. Some insurance firms, landing you with an annual bill that’s one third of your car’s total value, seem convinced London’s full of people madly driving into one another. What? Oh.

8. Don’t buy a house with a basement.

9. Pocketing the money you’ve saved by not buying a house with a basement, save up, and do a really great restaurant. You’ve got an amazing choice, but the best meal I’ve had in London was probably at Rhodes Twenty Four, up the old NatWest tower; British food done really well, with stunning views of the city.

10. But the simple pleasures are good too. Nothing makes you feel like you’re in a great city more than watching the world go by with a late-night/small hours coffee at Bar Italia in Soho, or a greasy spoon breakfast in a formica topped-table caff a few hours later.

* The Abramovich thing is a lie. A flight of fancy, for illustrative purposes only. Sorry.

** This does not apply for London buses. Really. Don’t. Try. It.

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Scots away

Missing boxLuckily Mrs T regards herself as British. Otherwise, she might have struggled with this NHS registration form today.

Alongside an eclectic selection of other nationalities, she could have registered her Englishness, Welshness, Cornishness, Northern Irishness and Irishness… but not her Scottishness.

I don’t think, however, that treatment is affected by which box you tick, or by the accuracy of that tick. Which is probably just as well.

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A cloud of twits

A cloud summarising the shit I put on Twitter. By TweetClouds, via Russell Davies

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Merry Christmas, all

Merry Christmas

In finest blog tradition, here’s a picture of my cat in the tree. Merry Christmas to all my friends – real, imaginary and Facebook. I’ll be back the other side of the turkey and sprouts*.

* In keeping with the time of year, that link is a repeat from last year. Sorry. But not very.

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