CATEGORY: Uncategorized

Genocide row obscures wider debate

Interesting debate at London’s Frontline Club on Tuesday on Sri Lanka. It was supposed to poll involved media views on the expected defeat of the LTTE Tamil Tiger separatists and – theoretically – the end of the country’s debilitating and...

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Straw overrules Information Tribunal

This is a guest post by Chris Ames Jack Straw’s decision to veto the release of the minutes of two pre-Iraq war cabinet meetings is a dagger to the heart of the Freedom of Information Act. No one who has seen New Labour’s approach to spin and to...

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Who’s protecting whom?

Five per cent of UK broadband connections have not signed up to the Internet Watch Foundation’s (IWF) system for blocking images of child pornography, despite the government's call for all Internet Service Providers to block access to illegal...

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Tickets for 2009 awards now on sale!

Expression in the Emirates

Dubai's censorship extends far beyond book festivals, says Christopher Davidson The blacklisting of Geraldine Bedell’s latest novel from Dubai’s International Festival of Literature should come as no surprise. It featured a homosexual character and...

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Tickets for 2009 awards now on sale!

Anna Politkovskaya: no justice

The acquittals in the Anna Politkovskaya murder case highlight a culture of impunity that must be brought to an end, writes Tanya Lokshina The trial of three men charged in connection with the murder of Anna Politkovskaya is over. The defendants...

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The principle stands

Consistency is an often over-rated value, particularly in politics and public life. When we cry ‘hypocrite’, as if in victory, for pointing out the fact that someone is doing something different from what they did before, we often ignore the utter...

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Interview: Jonathan Heawood

English PEN director Jonathan Heawood was interviewed on the Little Atoms radio show last week by, er, me, and co-host Neil Denny. We discussed the origins of PEN, perceived limits of free expression, and the changes in censorship from a...

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Watching the detectives

Today saw a protest by press photographers outside London's Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police. The protest, organised by the National Union of Journalists, was against Section 76 of the Counter Terror Act, which makes an...

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