adventitious comms, tech, and music
Rob Fenwick
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Posts by Rob Fenwick
University of Westminster launches campaign to revive birthplace of British Cinema
Oct 21st
“The Victorians who watched the early Lumière films did not only witness a new form of entertainment. For many it would be their first glimpse of their French neighbours, or continental architecture. It was a moment which connected cultures. So it is fitting that in the same building we now teach social sciences, politics, and languages. Just as the Lumière brothers did more than a century ago, we are opening doors and connecting cultures. I can’t wait for the moment when, once again, we will be able to do so with the word “action!”.”
The words of my Vice-Chancellor – I couldn’t have put it better myself.
I’ve been busy today with our team launching a £5m campaign to revive the birthplace of British cinema. The Today programme and the BBC News website were really good to us. There is more news to follow, and campaign updates are being posted to www.birthplaceofcinema.com
Our media monitoring stations (powered by EyeTV) exported an MP3 of the Today programme package, which I’ve hosted using Houndbite:
(c) BBC 2009
Houndbite is simplicity itself to operate – effectively a YouTube for audio files – but I’m surprised the embedded version doesn’t link directly to the same file on the Houndbite site. Still some work to do, by the look of it.
Oh, and yes, that is me playing the organ throughout the piece. Angus Crawford (the reporter) took us a little by surprise when he asked for the organ to be played – I hadn’t played in seven years and had to make something upon the spot to demonstrate some of the quirky features of the Compton organ (you can clearly hear the bells/chimes). I’m afraid it comes across as a little funereal!
It’s not exactly “yes we can”
Oct 19th
There’s so much top-notch work coming out of the government comms teams these days that it comes as a surprise to see them cock up something as straight-forward as a press conference backdrop.
The shot above shows a press conference earlier today:
- That could be a short essay behind the PM. It’s not exactly “yes we can”, is it?
- “Copenhagen” has been changed in to a mark, with a footprint graphic too small to be clearly seen on screen. It doesn’t really add anything to my understanding, it’s just another message.
- The Copenhagen website address is obscured, and there’s a different address on the podium.
Sky News used less than ten seconds of this presser, and there were three too many things fighting for my attention. The end result is that minutes later, I can’t remember a word the PM said.
However, to be fair, looking closely at the photo above it was either a couple of roll-up stands, or the PM with a chandelier growing out of his head – sometimes you have to make the best of a bad lot!
The #Trafigura question #CarterRuck don’t want you to see
Oct 12th
Alarming news from the Guardian tonight http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/12/guardian-gagged-from-reporting-parliament who say that they have been banned from reporting the text of a Parliamentary Question, which is published on the parliament website, and covered by parliamentary privilege.
Lawyers Carter Ruck have secured an injunction which prevents the reporting of this written Question to the Secretary of State for Justice:
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Carter Ruck are acting as a menace to democracy. If you have a twitter account please post a link to question 61 at http://bit.ly/cpIn5, using the hashtags #Trafigura and #CarterRuck.
Alarming news from the Guardian tonight who say that they have been banned from reporting the text of a Parliamentary Question, which is published on the parliament website, and covered by parliamentary privilege.
Lawyers Carter Ruck have secured an injunction which prevents the reporting of this written Question to the Secretary of State for Justice:
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.
Carter Ruck are behaving like a menace to democracy. If you have a twitter account please post a link to question 61 at http://bit.ly/cpIn5, using the hashtags #Trafigura and #CarterRuck.
Leave aside for the moment that trying to injunct information which has been published online is like trying to plug a seive one hole at a time, you may say ‘does it matter? Isn’t Parliament full of expenses fiddling crooks anyway?’ Well, yes it does matter… If any legal outfit is allowed to get away with obscuring or concealing the work of an elected Parliament from the people who elected it, then the potential consequences are far reaching and deeply serious for the politics of this country.
Carter Ruck have gone much too far in this ill-judged attempt to stand between people and Parliament. The injunction must be overturned, and if there’s a decent person anywhere at the top of that company, they’ll publicly apologise for their actions.
[PS I'm indebted to Steven Barnett for pointing me to the Wikileaks account of the Carter Ruck injunction, and for reminding me that there are still questions over the conduct of Barclays]
It’s time for the Liberal Democrats to devolve power to Nick Clegg
Sep 26th
There was a curious anomaly in the otherwise excellent paper which launched conference, A Better Politics for Less. The paper proposed the merger of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (a body which does what it says on the tin) with the more obliquely titled Learning and Skills Council who, among other things, fund Further Education.
Merging the two bodies who fund college and university education seems logical, even neat. It means however, that the Liberal Democrats are proposing the creation of a mega-QUANGO at the very moment a Bill is passing through parliament to break up the LSC and devolve their funding powers to local councils. Government legislation embracing devolution and localism to a greater degree than Lib Dem policy? Perish the thought.
Being laid up with the traditional conference cold has given me plenty of time to reflect on our biannual shing-ding. Though I may have been feverish at the time, the conclusion I’ve reached is that for our party to make the national parliamentary breakthrough it has worked so hard to earn, we do indeed need a new approach to devolution. A new devolution settlement is needed in our own party – one in which our party’s democratic machinery devolves power up to the leadership. More >
Farewell Mike Fry, an extraordinary teacher at Haydon Bridge High School
Sep 12th
“A good teacher is like a candle – he consumes himself to light the way for others.” – Author unknown
“All knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use.” – A.E. Housman
Mike Fry
How many people do you know whose influence on you has lasted more than a decade? Your parents will probably come top of the list, and I’d guess for many a teacher comes close second.
One of those who will stay with me forever was Mike Fry, my drama teacher at Haydon Bridge High School in Northumberland. He died in a nursing home in Witham early on Friday morning of cancer, having also suffered a stroke.
Those of us who were so deeply fortunate to have been taught by Mr Fry remember his passion for his subject, and his desire, sometimes desperate, to see his pupils succeed. Those who weren’t taught by him remember him too – for who he was, for his values. An old school friend said today “I never knew him through drama, but through his amazing ability to walk up and down mountains all day and do fell-runs in the evening, all the while shouting “Well done chaps!”"
There was no front with Mike Fry, no act when he was teaching – he was sincere and generous with his praise, quick too to show when he was feeling dark. He had an incredible ability to carry his entire class along with his mood. When he was excited, and inspired, and enthusiastic – which was most of the time – so too were his pupils.
As well as an extraordinary teacher, I knew Mr Fry to be a batchelor who professed eyes only for Judi Dench and Maria Callas; a clergyman; a pillar of the community; and a friend to those who needed a friend. A complex man with simple, admirable values which shone through in all he did – Generosity. Admiration. Humility. Passion. Kindness. Sincerity. Care. He couldn’t even walk to school without stopping to pick up every bit of litter he could see.
Whenever I have seen or heard Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys, I have been tempted to draw parallells between aspects of Bennett’s character Hector, and Mr Fry. He brought scripts and books to life so that his pupils would know drama and literature, but more importantly he taught us the importance of believing in what you do, of daring to be passionate, to stand out from the crowd, and to do what you believe to be right. Above all, he taught us that life is precious, that we should use whatever gifts we have to the full, and that we must never let life slip through our fingers. Don’t waste a single day. He never did.
Finally, I’m not as prone as I used to be to quoting scripture, but this passage from John 14 seems fitting:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. You heard me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
There will be a Service of Thanksgiving at 11.00 on Saturday 19 September at St. Cuthbert’s church, Haydon Bridge. Tributes are flooding in on Facebook. Thanks to Bex Holliday for posting the photo I have used.
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
Tallis’s Spem in Alium: are forty voices enough?
Aug 30th
I had planned to go on a pilgrimage of the significant places in the life of Thomas Tallis this Summer, to add some sense of emotional and geographical connection to my amateur study of his forty-part motet Spem in Alium. If you’re not familiar with the piece you can find a version here, though at 12 minutes long its about 2 mins too long for me.
So far, my pilgrimage hasn’t been possible – the year has been busy, and I’ve been learning more about the piece and its composer at a rate which has lead to a constantly changing stream of thoughts and opinions, each needing further work to understand better. I’d like my thoughts on the piece to have settled down a little before going to the places of Tallis’s life and death. In particular, if there is anyone out there of a historical bent who could make an educated guess as to the probable locations of Court in the years 1568/69, I’d really like to hear from you.
In the meantime, some of you might enjoy sharing this moment i just recorded where I indulge in the idea of an eighty party motet. I should’ve done my hair. I could’ve been less effusive. I shouldn’t peer over my glasses. Singing was a mistake. It could probably have used a script, but I thought I’d just fire up the camera and record this moment of late-night Bank Holiday early music geekery. Enjoy.
Update: I have heard a couple of people be quite sniffy about the King’s Singers version of Spem. They are, whisper it….. populist.
As there are only six singers in the group, they used multi-tracking to produce their recording. I find it one of the most interesting recordings. Fascinated then to see that they made a video when recording it, which gives some sense of the technical complexity (though a minor gripe is that it doesn’t show off the key antiphonal moments well). These guys either have an incredible sense of timing, or a metronome ticking in their headphones!