NCF director Peter Whittle was one of the guest panelists on BBC 2's The Review Show on Friday, discussing growing climate change scepticism, Ian McEwan's new novel Solar, Dave Eggers latest book Zeitoun, and the film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The other guests were the historian Tristram Hunt, the critic Paul Morley and the artist Beth Derbyshire.
You can watch the show here
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Submitted by peterwhittle on Sun, 2010-03-14 09:17.
The Oscars are in and accounted for. Over at the Telegraph, Nile Gardiner makes the point that patriotism in the form of the Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker has seen off Avatar's simple-minded anti-Americanism:
'Avatar cost up to $400 million to produce and market. In contrast, The Hurt Locker had a budget of just $11 million. Avatar is in essence a hugely expensive political statement against America’s leadership of the world, and the US-led war in Iraq. The Hurt Locker is not an overtly political movie, but it pays tribute to the tremendous bravery and sacrifice of American troops fighting in Iraq, at a time when Hollywood has produced a slew of anti-war movies.'
At Standpoint, NCF director Peter Whittle also welcomes the the fact that billion dollar success did not turn the heads of the Academy, and more broadly defends the whole Oscar shebang:
'...if one is going to have award ceremonies, there are many points to be made in defence of the Academy Awards. They are certainly done with some brio. The ceremony assumes people are and should be interested, and it procedes accordingly. This is far more tolerable than the smirky, post-modern, ironical tone of such occasions here: if you think it is all rubbish really, and that we're just having a bit of fun, then it's best not to do it at all. There's nothing worse than a half-baked award ceremony. Having attended a few while living in LA, I can say that I'd much rather have good honest American vulgarity than two-bit British tackiness and having to stomach the cringe-making provincialism of Jonathan Ross.'
Posted in Commentary add new comment
Submitted by peterwhittle on Mon, 2010-03-08 10:17.
Watch NCF director Peter Whittle talking about press coverage of the opinion poll woes of the Tory Party on Sky News here
Posted in Commentary add new comment
Submitted by peterwhittle on Sun, 2010-03-07 12:42.
We're very pleased to announce that as of the beginning of April, the NCF has a new office, at 55 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QL.
The new building, which is in the heart of Westminster, has already been nicknamed 'Think Tank Central.'
The other confirmed tenants of the building are the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Big Brother Watch, Civitas, the Conservative Cooperative Movement, the Nothing British campaign, and the Africa Research Institute. The Centre for Policy Studies is next door, and both Open Europe and the Social Market Foundation are also based on the same street.
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Submitted by peterwhittle on Wed, 2010-03-03 11:57.
