media

  • Corsica: linguistic colonialism in action

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Politics

    Flag of CorsicaOn Tuesday 9th March, the Administrative Court in Bastia overturned those articles of the rules of procedure of the Corsican Assembly and the Corsican Executive Council that provide for debates to be held in both Corsican and French, Corse Matin reports. The Court regards these provisions as infringing Article 2 of the French constitution, according to which “the language of the Republic is French“.

    Former prefect of Corsica Pascal Lelarge, had lodged an appeal in this matter, requesting withdrawal of the decisions adopting these two rules of procedure, in view of the fact that references to the notion of the Corsican people and the Corsican language as a possible working language for the Corsican assembly, undermine to the French constitution.

    “An unthinkable situation”
    Gilles Simeoni, President of the Corsican Executive Council, and Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, President of the Corsican Assembly, issued the following statement:
    This decision is tantamount to depriving the elected representatives of Corsica of the right to speak their language during debates within the Assembly of Corsica, the Executive Council of Corsica and acts of public life. Accepting this situation is unthinkable for us.

    Even regardless of the appeal to be lodged against this judgement, this court decision and its reasoning only confirm the absolute necessity of a constitutional revision, in particular to guarantee the Corsican language the status of joint officiality, an essential condition for its survival and development.

    With the rules of procedure of the Corsican Assembly having been adopted unanimously, at the next session we will propose that all groups adopt a common position in the face of the legal and political situation created by the judgment of the Administrative Court in Bastia, which is subject to an appeal.

  • A bridge too far

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities

    The M4 motorway is the main road connection across the Severn estuary between England and South Wales.

    Originally it crossed the river at Aust via the Severn Bridge/Pont Hafren, replacing an old ferry service .

    After the completion of the Second Severn Crossing, the section of the M4 from Olveston in England to Magor/Magwyr in Wales was re-designated as the M48.

    In an act of Whitehall arrogance, the Second Severn Crossing was later renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge with no public consultation, almost as if to prove that Wales is still England’s oldest colony.

    Repairs are due to be carried out to potholes on the new bridge and this was duly reported on the Bristol (Evening) Post/Bristol Live website, as is also shown by the following screenshot.

    Headline reads M4 disruption for over 5 hours due to repair potholes [sic]

    A small problem occurs here. Knowledgeable readers will at once discern that the bridge used to illustrate the link from the site’s home page to the article is actually the 1960s Severn Bridge, not the Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor Bridge. Has Reach plc also dispensed with picture editors as well as sub-editors in a dual bid to reduce both costs and the quality of its so-called ‘journalism‘,

    Finally it is worth noting that this story does not appear on the Post’s Reach stable companion for South Wales, the Western Mail/Wales Online website (affectionately known as Tales Online. Ed.).

  • Sheffield’s unique celebration of Dewi Sant

    Steve WoodsMedia, Oddities, Politics, Social Media

    the first of March is Saint David’s Day and Sheffield City Council decided to mark the Welsh patron saint’s day in its own inimitable way, as reported by Nation Cymru, by flying the wrong flag from the Town Hall.

    Tweet reads Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus - Happy St. David's Day! From [Sheffield City Council]

    Instead of Y Ddraig Goch, Sheffield City Council ran Saint Andrew’s Cross – the flag of Scotland – up the corporation flagpole.

    However, by early afternoon the Scottish Saltire had been replaced above the Town Hall with the flag of St David – a yellow cross on a black background.

    The council also put out a statement declaring: “We are really sorry that the incorrect flag was flown above the Town Hall today. As soon as we knew, we rectified this immediately. We want to wish all who celebrate a Happy St David’s Day.”

    Nevertheless, this is not the first time this particular local authority has been guilty of seeing all Celts as alike. In 2019, the Council celebrated St Patrick’s Day by flying Y Ddraig Goch from the Town Hall, as the BBC reported at the time, as well as being posted on social media

    Tweet reads Er, is there a particular reason the WELSH flag is flying above #Sheffield Town Hall on #StPatricksDay?

    Your ‘umble scribe is reminded at this point of the remark of Lady Bracknell regarding carelessness in Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest.

  • Tasteless food, tasteless advertising

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    Junk food giant McDonalds’ advertising department clearly has as much taste as the food, otherwise it would not have placed the advertisement below by a Cornish bus stop directly opposite Penmount Crematorium on the road between Truro and Carland Cross (the A30/A39 junction).

    McDonald's to remove 'tasteless' sign opposite Cornwall crematorium

    Will the person who thought this was a good idea be getting a roasting?

  • More Reach ambiguity

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media

    In my first paid job after graduating, your ‘umble scribe received further instruction in English, namely adapting what he wrote to fit in with his then employer’s house style, part of which included the avoidance any ambiguity.

    As Merriam Webster points out, ambiguity is defined as “a word or expression that can be understood in two or more possible ways: an ambiguous word or expression“.

    If only those writing today’s newspapers had also received such training as your correspondent or access to a newsroom dictionary with the above definition for the entry ambiguity

    Experience would suggest neither situation obtains, particularly in the titles of the Reach plc stable of regional “news” titles, as this ambiguous offering from the Daily Post/North Wales Live implies.

    Headline reads The historic inn opposite a popular country park that's been serving weary travellers for centuries
    Which establishment is serving weary travellers – the inn or the country park?

    Your correspondent diligently read the piece to discover how and what Loggerheads Country Park has been serving weary travellers down the centuries, all to no avail. 🙁

  • How to Lose French and Alienate People

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Social Media

    The stylebook of Associated Press (AP), the largest news agency in the USA is a highly regarded reference work for journalists wishing to improve their written English.

    The same cannot be said of the AP Stylebook Twitter account which posted the tweet below on Thursday.

    Tweet reads We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.
    Zut alors !

    The offending post has since been deleted, the BBC reports.

    Before its deletion, the advice was widely mocked by Francophones and Francophiles. Even the French embassy in the USA joined in the derision, briefly changing its name to the “Embassy of Frenchness in the United States“.

    Writer Sarah Haider responded that there was “nothing as dehumanizing as being considered one of the French” and that a better term was “suffering from Frenchness“, whilst political scientist Ian Bremmer suggested “people experiencing Frenchness” as a possible alternative.

    Washington Post journalist Megan McArdle also joined in the fun: “The people experiencing journalism at the AP have their work cut out for them“.

    After the tweet had been deleted, those in charge of the AP Stylebook Twitter account said their reference to French people had been “inappropriate” and that it “did not intend to offend“.

    The moral of this story: think before you tweet.

  • A family with the wrong members in control

    Steve WoodsMedia, Politics, Social Media

    In 1941 in the midst of World War 2, George Orwell wrote his essay The Lion and the Unicorn on the state of England in wartime and examining what the England of the 1940s could have in common with the England of 1840.

    His line of reasoning resulted in him penning the following paragraph.

    England is not the jewelled isle of Shakespeare’s much-quoted message, nor is it the inferno depicted by Dr Goebbels. More than either it resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep in it but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons. It has rich relations who have to be kow-towed to and poor relations who are horribly sat upon, and there is a deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income. It is a family in which the young are generally thwarted and most of the power is in the hands of irresponsible uncles and bedridden aunts. Still, it is a family. It has its private language and its common memories, and at the approach of an enemy it closes its ranks. A family with the wrong members in control – that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.

    There is so much in that one paragraph that is still pertinent today: the cupboards bursting with skeletons; the poor relations who are horribly sat upon; deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income; and above all a family with the wrong members in control.

    Which brings us very neatly to today’s Daily Mirror font page with some blunt advice for the current “wrong” members in control.

    Headline reads they still don't get it
    The ‘irresponsible uncles’ mentioned by Orwell

    When alleged prime minister Rishi Sunak entered Number 10 he promised: “this government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.”

    His words have rung hollow, as revealed by his own actions – not wearing a seat belt in a moving car whilst being over 17 years of age – and those of others such as disgraced former alleged prime minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson’s cronysim. Furthermore, Sunak has revealed himself to be particularly foolish. Who else would video themselves breaking the law and then post the evidence on social media?

    However, perhaps far worse than that is the case of present Tory Party chair Nadhim “Stable Genius” Zahawi. It has now come to light that he was under investigation by the Revenue for tax irregularities while he was Chancellor Chancer of the Exchequer. It has emerged today that Zahawi actually had to pay overdue taxes as well as a penalty.

    Last time your ‘umble scribe looked, those who handle their tax affairs with integrity generally have to pay penalties to the taxman.

    Sunak’s fine words in respect of integrity, professionalism and accountability have a distinctly hollow ring, reminiscent of a phrase of Orwell’s regarding political speech in his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language.

    Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

    One wonders whether Sunak’s answer to all the sleaze, corruption and general misbehaviour rife in his party with an updated version of John Major’s 1990s Back to Basics campaign. However, your correspondent doubts Sunak has the political skills.

  • Not news, not Bristol

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities

    The Bristol (Evening) Post?Bristol Live website has a Bristol News menu item on its website. Today the home page revealed the item below had been added to that category.

    Headline reads Prince Harry's training flight story in Spare memoir complete fantasy, army instructor says
    Where to in Bristol did Mr. Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor do his flight training in Bristol?

    At this point a number of significant howevers enter the narrative. Firstly, the army has no aviation training centre either in Bristol or its immediate environs, according to its website.

    A second however could be levelled at the second part of the Reach publication’s classification of this item as News. It’s actually what could be classed as gossip, i.e. idle talk or rumour, especially about personal or private affairs of others, except that informant in question has gone running a national Sunday ‘news’ publication in the Reach plc stable.

    Thirdly, for those whose who are really desperate to read this alleged news, it can be found here.

  • Spending other people’s money

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Politics

    One Mary Elizabeth Truss has the distinction of being the prime minister of the English Empire (which some still call the United Kingdom. Ed.) with the shortest term of office, staying in post a mere 49 days.

    However, that did not stop her crashing the economy with the budget cooked up by her and her Chancer of the Exchequer Kamikwasi Kwarteng‘s disastrous 2022 mini-budget, as well as being profligate with other people’s – i.e. taxpayers’ – money.

    The Mirror reveals that Truss’ so-called ‘Jenga‘ lectern specially made for her cost the public purse £4,175. That equate to an ependiture of £85 for each of the forty-nine days she served. The Mirror piece reveals that Truss also had a second similar lectern made, but that was paid for by those gullible people who pay membership subscriptions and donate to the Tory Party.

    Truss and the Jenga lectern
    Mary Elizabeth Truss and that lectern. Photo credit: gov.uk

    It wasn’t as if Downing Street had a dearth of lecterns at the time; current alleged prime minister Rishi Sunak never bothered to have a bespoke lectern made and is using a predecessor’s cast-off that “was purchased under a previous administration” at a cost of £3,050. What an absolute bargain the former Goldman Sachs asset is.

    When she was pretending to be the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (FCD), Truss gained quite a reputation for her spendthrift ways. These included using half a million pounds of public funds to hire a private jet for a visit to Australia. At the time Truss was roundly criticised for her reluctance to use a regular, cheaper and faster scheduled service. The most expensive business-class ticket for the former foreign secretary’s entire itinerary on Qantas would have come at a cost of £7,712 to the public purse.

    Mary Elizabeth’s final months as Foreign Secretary were likewise characterised by a similar propensity for spending others’ money, racking up £2m worth of air miles in six months on 20 overseas trips..

    However, it was not just Truss’ love of air travel that drew the media’s attention. Back in September 2022, Sky News reported that Foreign Office expenditure during Truss’ tenure included 2 trips to the hairdresser for her at a cost to the taxpayer of nearly £3,400. Then there was nearly £2,900 spent by her department at the Norwich City online store – £1,318 on 21 October last year and £523.50 on 21 March 2022 by an unknown purchaser for unknown goods. Truss is allegedly the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk, so that might explain this anomalous FCD expenditure.

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