Entries from September 2010

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Everybody loves Ed…

If the new leader of the Labour Party runs into serious trouble over the next few years, maybe he can carve out a new career in situation comedy. Or has he already? Maybe the reason Ed Miliband has never been seen in the same room as Italian-American TV comedy actor Ray Romano is because they […]

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

My first OU science project

My bid for scientific credibility has finally got off the ground with my very first Open University science experiment. You can see the high-precision, high-tech equipment I’ve been devising to help me undertake Activity 2.1: Measuring Precipitation – part 1. It’s all a bit primary school – but actually quite instructive. After cutting down the water […]

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

No Wallace and Gromit fans at the Metro, then…

This splash on the latest stop-motion animation short from the UK’s favourite Oscar-winning, Bristol-based animation studio manages to spell the company’s name wrong not just once, but all three times it is mentioned. Oh well, it was at least consistent. And it wasn’t in the headline or standfirst. Just for the record, it’s Aardman with […]

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

Are undergraduate drop-outs voting with their feet?

This week’s HE news is that graduation rates have slumped, pushing us to 15th place in the OECD rankings. It’s a disaster that is threatening our economic recovery, warn university vice-chancellors (no special interest there, then) and university unions (likewise). It’s an odd counterpoint to the summer’s news that unemployment among graduates has risen a […]

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Web traffic: what goes up must come down

Readers may remember the run-in I had with the Clinique press office a little while ago, and the flood of visitors that were drawn here by a repost at US journalism college web site the Poynter Institute. It was very exciting – my readership spiked tenfold, and I had loads of comments. So – I’m on […]

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Why posting has been light on Freelance Unbound recently…

…I’ve had to spend quite a bit of time training up my new editorial assistant. She’s certainly got a nose for news, and will sniff out ineptitude and inaccuracy in the media with relentless tenacity. She also loves traditional news media – it’s very comfortable. Don’t worry though – Freelance Unbound is not about to […]