Open Road

Thursday Apr 24th 2008

There is a far better way of delivering PSB, says Martin Le Jeune

Martin Le Jeune appeared in Broadcast Magazine - Published 23 April 2008

Recently I received a kind invitation from the BBC to attend a lecture on public service broadcasting to be given by Sir David Attenborough. As I accepted - the man’s a genius after all - I reflected that the corporation must be seriously concerned to deploy its heaviest artillery at this stage of the debate about the future of PSB.
What worries the Beeb is the proposal, now being actively canvassed by some (including, to its shame, the Conservative party) that the licence fee should be top-sliced and offered to organisations which want to make public service programmes.

Wednesday Apr 23rd 2008

Pennsylvania Keeps Clinton Alive

Open Road’s man in Pennsylvania reports on Hillary Clinton’s victory last night

So it continues.

Pennsylvania is not going to be the end of the Democratic Party’s nominating process.

Hillary Clinton has won by ten points.  Not the 20 plus point win the polls suggested 2 months ago, but not the 3-4 point squeaker that looked possible before Senator Obama’s now infamous “bitter” remarks in San Francisco two weeks ago.

Monday Apr 21st 2008

Clinton vs Obama – the latest TV debate

Open Road’s man in Pennsylvania reports on the television debate between Clinton and Obama prior to the Democratic primary there

One of the great contradictions – and tragedies – about public discourse in the United States these days is that there are many things that must never be said. Americans must always be hopeful, must always see opportunity, must always be patriotic. Frustration, anger, cynicism, and – as Senator Obama has learned the last week, bitterness, must never creep into the national soul or psyche. That is if you listen to the rhetoric of candidates on the campaign trail. Everyone is happy, hopeful and optimistic about the journey we are all on to that bright, shining city on a hill. I wonder if this is what the founders had in mind when they constructed the First Amendment.

Wednesday Apr 16th 2008

The Economy, an Alternative View

Let’s go back to the summer of 2007.  Remember that, when the economy was growing nicely?

But at that time, there were several things underneath the surface that were of serious concern to economists and commentators.  These problems included:

- Excessive borrowing by consumers and by banks

- Consumers were getting 125 per cent mortgages and borrowing way over their ability to pay

- House prices were growing unsustainably fast

- First time buyers were being priced out of the market

- Imports were too high and exports too low leading to a huge balance of trade deficit

- Interest rates were comparatively high at 5.75 per cent

Tuesday Apr 15th 2008

The Biofuels Fallacy

Sometimes policy heads off in entirely the wrong direction on climate change and biofuels looks like it’s a classic example of this.

Yes it is true that growing crops especially for fuel is carbon neutral as the CO2 they take in while they grow cancels out the CO2 they produce when they are burned for energy and so they are better in pure CO2 terms than fossil fuels.

But that’s where the benefits end.