Shire Network News is hosted from Australia this week by our Senior Managing Editor in charge of calming enraged listeners, "Tom Paine". He does not drop the F-bomb once. Not even a bleep. Not after the reaction we got to last week's, ah, change of pace. The feature interview this week is with French media analyst Philippe Karsenty, a long-term critic of France 2, the TV channel that broadcast the famous footage of Mohammed Al-Durah, the 10 year old Palestinian shot allegedly shot dead in his father's arms by Israeli soldiers. Not only does Phillipe say it was a hoax, he now has a court ruling backing him up. But he needs help to get this message past an entrenched state controlled media. If you can offer him any support, he asks that you contact him at this e-mail address: pk@m-r.fr In Blog News this week, the Worst US President Ever (and you know which peanut farmer we mean) casually endangers the security of a democratic western nation by detailing exactly how many atomic bombs it has, so we respond with some destabilisation and panic-mongering of our own. Take that malaise-boy, two can play at THAT game. We take a look at the savage pressure British schoolchildren are under thanks to the fiercely competitive exam system, Which on current trends will be asking tricky questions like "What colour is red" and "What is your name?" soon. Possibly with an option to phone a friend as well, but that's going to be in the next education White Paper. Algeria has charged a woman with becoming a Christian. You know, although it's now routine to see medieval gibberish like this, we really ought to still be shocked. And as always, the wacky antics of those wild and crazy guys at the United Nations brings a smile to the lips, a rueful shake of the head, and the loading of a fresh clip into the M16. This week, there's a terrible cyclone in Burma, and the UN sends a mystery parcel of aid. Watch the faces of the Burmese when they open it and find what's inside! Hi-jinks ensue. Followed by much suffering and death, but the UN is probably getting used to that by now. Meryl Yourish has been watching the Eurovision Song Contest, so you don't have to. Her subsequent therapy bills will be sent to the EU headquarters in Brussels. It seems only fair. Doug Payton has been watching the global temperature creep downwards and Arctic ice thicken thanks to...er...global warming. Maybe it's because Al Gore has been unusually quiet of late. And Hollywood satirist and political activist Evan Sayet discusses the possibility that if Obama loses, we're in for a re-run of the worst parts of the 60s, including the emergence of a new domestic terror movement along the lines of the Weather Underground. Whose main achievement was to get three of their members blown up, but we couldn't be that lucky again, could we? Pre-order Evan's book here, if you want to avoid the hideous possibility of a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young reunion. Tags: tom paine · meryl yourish · evan sayet · doug payton

[ Tue, 27 May 2008 16:12:19 +0000 ]

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