IT was the Arctic Monkeys who sang that D was for Dangerous. But when it comes to Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film D is for disappointing. The actual title and premise is promising and when you have the brains behind Borat, Bruno, Ali G you expect a goal as sure as you would when Lionel Messi is provided with an open goal after fancy footwork by his team mates at Barcelona. Read the rest of this entry »
Ismail Mulla
Skyfall Trailer is a Go
May 21, 2012 — ismailmullaTHE trailer to the most eagerly awaited film of the year is here. We may have had to wait for four years or six depending on what view you hold on Quantum of Solace but James Bond is back and the trailer to Skyfall has been launched.
Judging by the trailer it is set to be thumping and as hard edged as ever. But while the trailer certainly whets the appetite, there is a fear that it could descend into Quantum mode. Which was one elongated action sequence with a bit of dialogue in between.
If that’s the case with Skyfall it will be a mighty shame, as Daniel Craig can act and Sam Mendes has the clout to carry a film at a measured pace. Still the proof will be in the pudding come October, when Skyfall is set for release.
Skyfall Teaser Poster
May 21, 2012 — ismailmullaTHE legend that is James Bond is set to return to the big screen after a lengthy absence this October. Currently in production, Skyfall will see Daniel Craig return as the suave British agent 007 for the third time. This poster has recently been released suggesting that this latest Craig outing will be a more classic affair, following a radical but critically acclaimed reboot in 2006 with Casino Royale. The poster combines the traditional with the new rugged elements of Bond, all wrapped in a veneer of a noir, gun metal hue.
Sun on Sunday circulation fall
April 22, 2012 — ismailmulla-
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IN an attempt to appease disgruntled staff at The Sun following arrests of several staff in connection with phone hacking, News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch launched Sun on Sunday. News Corporation closed down it’s previous Sunday title the News of the World 10 July 2011, following revelations of widespread hacking.
On it’s launch the Sun on Sunday was estimated to have sold 3.22 million copies. The News of the World in it’s final month in July had an average circulation of 2.6 million, a big increase for News International. The launch was supervised by Rupert Murdoch himself.
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“Rupert Murdoch to supervise next week’s birth of Sun on Sunday gu.com/p/35t79/tf
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The paper was launched in the immediate aftermath of further arrests of Sun journalist. On Murdoch’s timing, Katherine Rushton the Daily Telegraph’s Media, telecoms and technology editor wrote in her column:
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“he is capitalising on public affection for the Sun and fears that it would meet the same fate as the News of the World. Politicians and commentators routinely attack Mr Murdoch’s stranglehold on the British media, but losing one of the country’s most robust tabloids is hardly going to boost plurality either.
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The paper is edited by the current Sun editor Dominic Mohan. Mohan has been the editor of the Sun since 2009 when Rebekah Brookes moved up to become News International’s chief executive. Mohan began his career at the Sun when he started working on the Bizarre column at the paper in 1996. He is joined by Victoria Newton who worked as a Deputy Editor on the now defunct News of the World. Former News of the World political editor David Wooding also joined the Sun on Suday – assuming the same role as political editor.
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EDITOR: Dominic Mohan (above), in charge of editing the Sunday edition.
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The Sun’s official twitter feed was in typically bullish mood, proclaiming to have broken another “exclusive” on the launch of it’s sister paper:
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“The Sun on Sunday has arrived. Next weekend will see the birth of the first ever Sunday edition of your favourite paper bit.ly/whtjrd
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But not everyone was impressed with the way The Sun has been parading around the launch of The Sun on Sunday as an exclusive. Liberal Democrat politician Dr Evan Harris was not impressed with the Sun’s “exclusive” on the launch of it’s new sister title the Sun on Sunday. He tweeted:
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“The Sun boasts that its “scoop” on Sun on Sunday launch is “another exclusive”. Tough investigative journalism clearly thriving at News Int
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Prior to the launch Rupert Murdoch himself took to Twitter to boast of the impending first issue and the success of it’s advertising department. A huge contrast between the culmination of the News of the World, when many brands pulled their advertising and led to News International to offer free advertising to charities. Murdoch tweeted;
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“London Sun. Great staff tired but excited for Sunday edition. Yougov poll shows 90pc awareness already. Big announcements start tomorrow.
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News of the papers launch won’t have come as a suprise as a unknown company had taken the domain name in the immediate aftermath of the News of the World closing.
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News of the World: how soon before Sun on Sunday rises – Telegraph
Jul 7, 2011 … On July 5, as the scandal over phone hacking at News of the World, was gathering momentum, the domain name www.sunonsun… -
The news of the launch of the paper won’t have gone down too well on Merseyside. Where the Sun has been boycotted on a widepread scale, due to it’s distorted coverage of the Hillsborough disaster. The paper accused fans of Liverpool Football Club of picking victims pockets and beating up police. Emotions are still raw on Merseyside when it comes to the Hillsborough stadium disaster which saw 96 fans die. Families of the victims have demanded for justice through the Justice For The 96 campaign.
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Hillsborough disaster – Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe Hillsborough disaster was a human crush which occurred during the semi- final FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest foo…
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This is what the Don’t Buy The Sun website reads;
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“Following the latest hacking scandal, we, as Liverpool supporters, have a duty to keep the pressure up on Rupert Murdoch and his continued involvement with News International and more importantly the Sun newspaper.
We all know the lies this rag printed about our fellow Liverpool supporters after the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989.
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The launch will also upset many who are campaigning for media ethics reform with the paper being launch in the midst of the Leveson inquiry triggered by revelations of widespread hacking at News of the World. As they believe that this would distract from Leveson. Labour MP Tom Watsonwas one of the politicians who got to grill Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch at a committee last year. He has recently released a book called Dial M for Murdoch, in which he outlines wrongdoing by journalists at news International owned newspapers.
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Tom Watson: News Corp operated like ‘shadow state’
Labour MP who led campaign against phone hacking also says News of the World aimed to investigate MPs’ private livesNews Corporation is a… -
At the committee Murdoch was also targeted by a protestor who tried throwing a pie in his face. As revelations of widespread phone hacking began to emerge. Including the news that Milly Dowler’s mobile had also been hacked.
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It could be that Rupert Murdoch is still called to appear in front of the Leveson inquiry.
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Rupert Murdoch and son James expected at Leveson inquiry
Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch are expected to appear at the inquiry into press ethics within weeks after Lord Justice Leveson announce… -
The first edition featured Amanda Holden on the front page and a lot of people criticised it for being weak. Roy Greenslade, professor of journalism at City University felt that the paper was too conservative saying, “it appeared unusually bland.”
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“With all the hype I was expecting something new, interesting or innovative, rather than the daily Sun and a few more (annoying) celebrity columnists.
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“Very disappointing front page, think they could have done a bit better than that.
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“Dull, dull, dull. Not a patch on the old NoW. Doubt I’ll buy it again.
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Despite Rupert Murdoch and the Sun’s bullish mood, the paper has seen a huge fall in circulation. The paper lost 25% of sales in March, with circualtion figures sagging below that of the final month of the News of the World to 2.4 million – compared to the News of the World’s average of 2.6 in it’s final month.
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Sun's Sunday edition loses 25% of sales | March ABCs | Media …
3 days ago … Sun's Sunday edition loses 25% of sales | March ABCs. This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 13.04 BST on F… -
Although it has to be noted that Murdoch (now a prolific tweeter, after joining the social networking site at the run of the year) did tweet that he’d be pleased with anything over the two million mark on launch in February.
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“The Sun: great speculation, sweeps, etc on Sunday’s sale. I will be very happy at anything substantially over two million!
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So judging by his comments on Twitter he’s got to be pleased, but the drop in circulation will not have gone unnoticed by Murdoch, as he looks to rebuild his empire after taking a pummeling in recent months.
Kirklees Democracy DVD Highlights
April 19, 2012 — ismailmullaA video that I worked on alongside professional film crew Mezzo in 2008, on local democracy and how it affects young people in Kirklees. I not only helped present it but I also helped script it. The DVD was shown around various schools in Kirklees.
Cash for Cameron scandal rocks Tories
April 19, 2012 — ismailmulla-
WHEN co-treasurer of the Conservative Party, Peter Cruddas was sat across the table talking unassumingly to what he thought were potential donors to the party, he had no reason to be concerned. But unfortunately for Cruddas, the Conservatives and Prime Minister David Cameron that conversation has become more than of just a little concern.
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TROUBLE: The front page splash that has landed PM Cameron in hot water.
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This is what Cruddas said to undercover Sunday Times reporters “Two hundred grand to 250 is premier league. What you would get is,
when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get
you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners.“You do really pick up a lot
of information and when you see the prime minister, you’re seeing David
Cameron, not the prime minister. But within that room everything is
confidential – you can ask him practically any question you want.“If
you’re unhappy about something, we will listen to you and put it into
the policy committee at No 10 – we feed all feedback to the policy
committee.”As a result Peter Cruddas has now stepped down as co-treasurer to the Conservatives and the spotlight has turned to Cameron, with many questioning his role in the matter.
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Here’s a news clip with some video footage of Cruddas’s conversation with The Sunday Times;
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But this scandal will have wider political implications not just on David Cameron. The story broken by The Sunday Times a flagship Murdoch owned News Corporation title, has not gone unnoticed by the papers proprietor Rupert Murdoch. Recently Murdoch joined social networking site Twitter and he wasted no time in getting on Twitter to gloat.
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“Great Sunday Times scoop. What was Cameron thinking? No-one, rightly or wrongly, will believe his story.
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He took relish in putting the boot into Cameron, whom his papers publicly backed before the 2010 general election. As this front page of The Sun on election day highlights.
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SUNNIER TIMES: When Cameron enjoyed the support of the Murdoch empire. Times have changed since.
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But since then the Murdoch corporation has been rocked by the phone hacking scandal and it appears any favours Cameron had with Murdoch owned media are no more, as the mogul tweeted:
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“Cameron should have just followed history and flogged some seats in the Lords, if they still have value! precedents of centuries .
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“Of course there must be a full independent inquiry on both sides. In great detail, and with consequences. Trust must be established.
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The Leveson inquiry will also have noticed this ‘Cash for Cameron’ saga as they resume proceedings. The scandal was uncovered with the use of subterfuge and many will argue that there is a strong public interest justification to this story.
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In a letter sent by pressure group 38 Degrees to its members it said: “Yesterday, we got yet another glimpse of how corrupt our political system is.
“A ban on secret lobbying would help weed out this kind if sleaze.”The group called for new stricter regulations on lobbying. It wrote: “New rules could force politicians to reveal who they’re meeting and what they talked about.”
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Political blogger Guido Fawkes has leaked a feather smoothing letter from Peter Cruddas’s replacement as co-treasurer for the Tories, Stanley Fink here it is in full:
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Exclusive: Feather Smoothing Email Sent to All Tory Donors – Guy Fawkes’ blog
From Stanley Fink, Treasurer of The Conservative Party I thought that it would be appropriate for me to write to you in light of the even… -
Initially Downing Street refused to release the list of people who the Prime Minister dined with but Cameron has agreed to release a full list of dinners with donors.
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David Cameron reveals Tory donors dinners list
And the Prime Minister pledged to publish a quarterly register of any future meals at official residences with people who have given more… -
The reaction from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations;
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“‘The CIPR strongly condemns the notion that cash can gain access to policy makers. Public affairs professionals know the limits of influence, and that a well-argued policy paper sent to Whitehall and Westminster is far more effective than a photograph with the Prime Minister or contact with the Number 10 Policy Unit. The latter access can be achieved through hard work, a well-written argument and knowledge of how policy making really works.
‘The CIPR has long argued for universal transparency for all those involved in lobbying activity and we will continue to do so in its formal written response to the Cabinet Office’s proposals to Introduce a Statutory Register of Lobbyists.’
Live Blogging – IPL – Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders
April 18, 2012 — ismailmulla
Live Tweeting – Liverpool v Man City, Carling Cup, Semi-Final First Leg 2012
April 18, 2012 — ismailmullaHere is some live tweeting that I did when Manchester City took on Liverpool in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final at Eastlands. Read the rest of this entry »
Finance Firm Warns Against Short Termism
April 6, 2012 — ismailmullaA YORKSHIRE finance firm has found that adults from the region are more interested in having money to go to the pub than saving for their pensions.
Research carried out by Skipton Financial Services found that 54% had no long term investments, savings or pensions. 32% said that they had cut back on takeaways, meals out and trips to the pub.
Managing director of Skipton Financial Services, Andrew Barker said: “The danger of the ‘short-term’ approach though is that long-term financial goals get neglected which may hit families even harder in the future.”
Over half the people surveyed said their main day-to-day concern is making sure there’s enough food in the house, followed by 43% saying fuel for their cars was their main concern.
27% of people quizzed said their finances is the main cause of worry in life. The research commissioned by Skipton Financial Services surveyed 196 adults from Yorkshire.
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